


Sonic Seas

by Dragonlover_Spinel



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: ...please???, Adventure, And Lots of It, Angst, Drama, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Genocide, In due time, Knuckles is super moody, M/M, Multi, Murder, My First Fanfic, Mythology - Freeform, Shadow and his new partner are gonna be very important to beating the villain, Slow Burn, Sonic n Silver are gonna so absolute sweethearts, Spoilers (Kinda), Teen Romance, Violence, also Blaze is dead, and Sonic is gonna get hit where it really hurts, and i love her so much, but in due time my children, but in this fic he gets super flustered about love and is generally gonna be a big embarrassed goob, can I let my son Sonic sleep???, rouge is a bad bitch with a love of jewels, shadow is still shadow, silver is a little tired and pretty sad but he's trying okay??, sp prepare yourselves For a whole lot of angst and fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-02-25 00:35:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22107022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonlover_Spinel/pseuds/Dragonlover_Spinel
Summary: Sonic absolutely hates water, and he always will. To think he was going to be safe on sweet dry land, a certain red echidna gets the "brilliant" idea to have a relaxing break from adventure--on the open water. It's too bad that wherever Sonic goes, a daring, exciting journey follows.
Relationships: Julie-Su/Knuckles the Echidna, Knuckles the Echidna & Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna & Rouge the Bat, Knuckles the Echidna & Sonic the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat/Wave the Swallow, Shadow the Hedgehog/Original Character(s), Silver the Hedgehog/Sonic the Hedgehog, [Past] Sonic the Hedgehog/Sally Acorn
Comments: 12
Kudos: 28





	1. Prologue

Sonic shot upwards from his bed once again.

It because of a nightmare, and that was not the only dream he had that week, let alone that month.

The blue hedgehog had been having these relentless night terrors for the past few months. Each one had a similar theme, and yet each one was more horrific than the previous one. Tonight's dream took place atop a large blood red colored bridge, where the blue hedgehog awoke from being unconscious for some reason. These strange creatures--their appearances resembling some sort of eldritch-esque deities--loomed over him, others just moseyed on by like it was normal.

However, the ones that looked over Sonic appeared to look awfully much like his own friends, except much more alien and very....disgusting. It was sickening, they looked much like his best friend Tails, his friendly rival Shadow, his guardian big-brother figure Knuckles, and yet they seemed to be nothing like them. Just staring on into his soul. No emotion or concern at all, just creepy glances. The hedgehog walked from their sight and decided to follow the ones who paid no mind to him.  
But they followed.

He remembered (vividly) all the bridges and the hundreds of thousands of these abominations walking across them as if they were being dragged along by these invisible strings. As curious as he was, Sonic went off in the same fashion. A large unearthly mountain stood proudly up ahead, surrounded by a circular platform that connected all the bridges right to it. The creatures walked by him and shoving him along whenever Sonic tried to turn in the other direction. But to no avail. He has to keep going.

He noticed upon closer inspection strange floating rocks in the shape of long ovals floated on the outer boundaries of the mighty mountain, or whatever the hell it was. Some strange things were perched on each of the rocks. It was unclear if they were made of rock themselves or they were organic. The blue hero woke up immediately when a large being of unknown origin came down, beady eyes glowing and swirling, came down from its high pedestal and took the opportunity of trying to squash the small guy. The words: "SHE SHALL BE YOUR DOWNFALL" were the last things he saw. Sonic rubbed his heavy eye bags, looking amongst his temporary room.

Sonic and a small handful of his close friends were inhabiting a small group of islands off the coast of The United Federation. This was the newest location for a new and improved Freedom Fighters HQ, considering the other one on the mainland was destroyed during a sudden violent raid 8 1/2 months ago. The same day in which the blue hedgehog's nightmares began. He rose out of bed, heading down the hall with ease. He may be the fastest thing to exist on Mobius, but he cared a lot about the sleep of his buddies. The outside was gorgeous, the ocean's waves whipped around the sand littered beach whilst palm trees swayed to the beat. A crescent moon was out tonight.

The blue hedgehog felt a small grin etch on his face. Finally, some peace, Sonic thought. He continued. He entered a small room near the end of the open hall. It had a whole assortment of chairs, tables and various food providing machines. Due to the lack of anyone present in this room, this place was obviously not open. Sonic felt his eyes growing weaker no matter how long he walked. It was miserable the last few months. He always woke up tired and stayed like that for hours until his blood sugar was pleased when given a chili dog.

Realizing his vision was becoming blurrier by the minute, the exhausted hedgehog switched around and headed off back to the sleeping quarters. But something stopped him on his way.

He turned to the outside view. There laid a campfire that was not there before, and a figure was sitting on a log next to it. It was unclear to Sonic who it was but it looked like they had an instrument in hand. Some soothing notes came from the mysterious instrument's cords. Though they did not help Sonic's case, for his eyes began to fall heavier. There was no time tonight for wandering and wondering of who was behind the enchanting music playing. 

Sleep was calling to him.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic wakes up tired as FUCK from having relentless nightmares, Knuckles and Tails decide to unveil their new plans about how to deal with a recent Freedom Fighters HQ related incident. It turns out to be death trap for the blue hero, but at this point it is for the best.

Morning had finally arrived, the golden-red sun's warm aura spilled across the planet indicating the start of a whole new day. It was not even a few minutes when the little flickies began chirping. Not many people were up and moving, except for a young red echidna. Knuckles was washing something out on the beach with a young fox mechanic, a fox named Tails, watching everything he does. A few minutes later Sonic emerged from the sleeping quarters and sauntered his way to the Freedom Fighters' café. Even with a good amount of sleep, he was knocked out as usual. He stumbled around the café until he slammed right into a small table.

Tails saw his older brother's little display, stopped his observation and flew off towards the exhausted hedgehog. The hedgehog could hear the fox's twin tails whirling and perked up his head.

"Hey there, sleepy head," the young genius greeted. "Want anything? Waffles? Bacon? Coffee?" Sonic gave a thumbs up, his head laying flat against the table. The fox took this as a one of everything and flew off. Another person came in the café all dressed up and ready to take on the day. The leader of the Freedom Fighters and princess of New Mobotropolis, Sally Acorn. She looked around the room and immediately spotted Sonic at the farthest table. 

"Ah good, you're here...Good morning, Sonic," Sally regally said. "I'm glad you're up at this time. There are a few things that need to be completed once you fill yourself up. I require you to grab more of the debris back at the old base around 9:00, mostly some important papers and some of the tool-" Sonic lifted his head again from the table, he did not look awake in the slightest. 

This alone made Sally stop her sentence. "Whoa. Are...Are you okay, Sonic? You look horrible.."

Sonic perked up instantly and answered, speech still slurred. "O-Oh! ye-yeah! Y..-Yes, of course, peachy keen." Sally did not believe him that much but decided not to push it forward. Tails returned with a platter of piping hot waffles and bacon--so hot the steam trailed behind him as he flew--and a piping hot mug of coffee. The hedgehog licked his chops and did not hesitate into digging right in to an early breakfast.

"Oh wow...such tasty, fluffy waffles," he gushed with his mouth fistful of waffle and bacon. He could already feel his iconic energy returning per bite. "Thanks for the save, Tails. I woulda been passed out without your help." He smiled and rubbed the hair atop of Tails' fluffy head. The fox definitely enjoyed that. The blue hedgehog took a long gulp of the coffee and turned his attention back to the squirrel watching him concerned.

"Aaanywho, when shall I get a move on, sal?"

Sally inhaled sharply. "Actually, I decided to take a hard pass on that request, Sonic. It appears you may not be in the best condition to do a rescue mission at the moment."

"Whaaaat?" The blue hedgehog jokingly gasped. "Oh don't worry so much about me, Acorn. I got myself all under control!" He got up from his chair just to prove he's worthy for the job. But the way his legs wobbled and bobbed around while he crept up from the seat debunked his argument. "See? Totally fine." Sally did not seem to be convinced, neither was Tails now that he was still with them. The clock on the wall chimed loudly, 7:00 is what it said. Pretty soon a whole batch of familiar folk came in for their team breakfast.

Bunnie Rabot was supporting her husband, Antoine D'Colette, whose head laid on her shoulder. Sonic's middle-aged uncle Sir Charles (though he prefers the name Chuck) followed closely behind them in case the half-awake coyote decided to fall asleep somewhere other than his wife's shoulder. Knuckles came in next from the outside, stretching out his muscular arms, his knuckles came next and then yawning dramatically.

"Ah, a good night's work is all worth it for some breakfast, eh, fellas," he chuckled.  
"All you really did was clean off the sides of my creation," Tails rolled your eyes. The echidna gave a playful slap on the fox's back. The two went off to join all the other Freedom Fighters at their massive dining table. Unfortunately, not all the Freedom Fighters in the building were present that morning. Jules and Bernadette were out on the main land looking for people still lost during the raid. Rotor was in the computer room below the island searching in case good ol' Eggman was scheming up anything, and Nicole tagged along to help. With breakfast now ready and being served to them, the Freedom Fighters got right to conversing.

Sally and Bunnie were chatting away about defensive procedures and other nonsense when Sonic decided to rudely chime in.

"C'mon, sal. I'm up for a little search-and-rescue mission. I already showed ya I'm perfectly capable."

"Sonic-" Tails tried to interject.

"Let me take care of this, kid," the princess raised her hand and interrupted the young fox. "Sonic, look. I love the enthusiasm for when I assign jobs to you. I really do. But, I believe It's best if you....took it easy for today."

"Besides, zis is...your 12th night terror zis month, non?" Antoine added. The hedgehog reluctantly nodded.

"I know. I know. The nightmares have been more of a handful for me, but trust me, guys. I can-"

"Sorry, son," Uncle Chuck intervened. "But you are outnumbered. Just follow Princess Sally's orders, and you'll be fine."

This did not change Sonic's mind, however, as he chose to stay silent the remainder of the breakfast meet. More folks arrived later in the morning, those people were Shadow--who was very grumpy (wow..shocker) and only spoke to a small amount of people--, Omega--who was still booting up--, and Nicole, appearing from the cafe's television and a little stressed out from working with Rotor all morning. Everyone at the table exchange opinions on miscellaneous topics, even Shadow joins in on the fun, chuckling at a few of Bunnie's remarks--probably were about Sonic. Sonic, on the other hand, was not enjoying himself much, though he did grin when he saw how much fun Tails and Knuckles were having.

The breakfast meeting ended around 8:30, and everyone was on their ways to their specific jobs. The big echidna saw Sonic walking away towards the beach, head low and walking strangely. He decided to give his good buddy a hello. Knuckles snuck from behind and placed his hand on the hedgehog's shoulder.

"Hey Sonic," Sonic turned around with a curious look. "If it makes ya feel better, Tails and I have a surprise for ya."  
"Oh really?" The hedgehog replied. He stretched his legs and arms. "Well, I'd love to, but my muscles are calling for some much needed laps right 'bout now."

"Wait! You're not supposed to-" the guardian echidna tried to warn his pal but he already was on the other side of the island.

"Don't fret, Knux," Sonic called out in reassurance. "This run won't take too long! I promise to return by noon, then you two can show me the 'surprise'!!" The hedgehog ran off in a small storm of pure speed, leaving behind skid marks of his shoes in the sand.

Sonic did believe a little downtime was needed, but he didn't want it. He was THE Sonic the hedgehog, the fast paced fighter himself. He had no time to relax with Eggman still out there are plotting in the shadows. But to his dismay, the certain 'surprise' that is to come, will be what he least expected and wanted.

****  
The hedgehog did follow one order that day.

Sonic returned from his laps around the Green Hill Territory and made haste back to the islands. He did not really enjoy the ending of his jog, not just because he was forced to come back by noontime, but he had to also walk across the water, the deep uncaring ocean waters. The hedgehog absolutely despises the stuff, and he always will. Some might say water is his true archenemy. But that is just a harmless inside joke told among the Freedom Fighters. Sonic skidded to a halting stop on the beach where he was last seen, and to his surprise, more than just Tails and Knuckles were present. Amy was chatting it up with Tails for some reason, though Sonic never really cared on what. Shadow also was attempting to talk to Silver, but the light grey psychic was too immersed with knitting himself a wooly sweater. The rosy hedgehog looked up from her conversation and smiled widely when she spotted her hero Sonic arriving at the scene.

"Hiya Sonic, come over!!" She waved to him. But he already was right next to her, which caught the attention of the blue blur's other companions.

"Well, well, well, the Mobian of the hour has returned to us," Shadow chuckled. "Had fun breaking the princess's orders, faker?" Silver began snickering beside him.

"I was only going for a short run and come straight back, thank you VERY much!" Sonic sassed back. The ebony hedgehog huffed in return. Knuckles came over just in case a small quarrel broke out.

"Perfect timing, Sonic," he pushed Sonic towards him with his huge hand on his backside. "Tails and I wanted to reveal something to you." He led him over to a massive blanket hiding what seems to be a big triangle-shaped mystery underneath.

"Huh," the hedgehog acknowledged. "It is...a little big for a 'little' surprise. What exactly have you been doin'?" He got a smile on his face and snapped one of his fingers. "Oh wait! Lemme guess: a new security mechanism for the emerald, since you could get all the help you need." The red echidna chuckled at that snarky suggestion, then responded with a head shake.  
"I wish, but unfortunately that's not exactly the thing. Look-" Knuckles took a deep breath, placed both hands on Sonic's shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. "We all know exactly how things have been with you. And believe it or not, we all have the same set mind point. I think.."

"It appears to be the appropriate time to take a break," Silver finished the echidna's sentence. Sonic was a little surprised to say the least, but somehow he knew they'd intervene like this.

"Seriously?" He smirked. "I know you guys are lookin' out for me, but I am okay. I am doin' well and talking like a perfectly healthy Mobian hedgehog. A little nightmare won't drag me down from work."

"Correction...8 1/2 months of nightmares," Tails innocently remarked. Sonic looked over the side and gave Tails a 'you're not helping' stare.

"And it's not just the nightmares you've been having lately," Amy decided to include in the conversation. "For the past few years, we ALL went up against...oh, I don't know...an invasion of a parasitic alien race tracking down Shadow, a prototype of a massive cyborg lizard, Mephiles in his purest form and simultaneously save our world from him, AND going up against an 800-foot tall Eldritch deity of pure chaos itself. Not to mention the air raid that occurred out of nowhere over 8 months ago that destroyed the Freedom Fighters HQ. And THAT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO SCRATCHING THE SURFACE!!!" The light grey hedgehog levitated over in order to calm the rosy pink hedgehog whose hammer was slowly being drawn out.

"The point Amy's trying to prove here," Shadow concluded. "Is that we all need some sort of relaxation away from all those life-threatening adventures." The blue hedgehog did stay still during that entire sentence. Shadow was, unfortunately, in the right. It has only been a few years since Dark Gaia literally broke the world apart, and not much time before that incident was the invasion of the Black Arms, the Biolizard's attack on the ARK Space Colony, and a bunch more tiring shit during that time period. He was denying the facts that were clearly there, but now with a full moment of focus and consideration, Sonic was reluctant to say:

"Okay. So I guess we need a break...but what's with the strange unidentifiable object lying beneath these covers?"

And this was when the fun was going to begin.

"Don't worry! It is relevant to the whole vacation thing," Knuckles explained, grinning happily. Tails came by his side just after speaking, who was also smiling a bit. "Now pay close attention to the front of you, everyone. Tails and I are finally, FINALLY, pleased to present to you-" With a swift use of their arms, the echidna and fox latched onto the large sheet tightly and pulled it straight off, strong enough that the sheet was thrown slightly into the air and landed on the sand behind them. "-our newest creation and solution to all our stress." Everyone looked at the strange invention in curiosity.

This invention was, in fact, a medium sized sailing boat, decked out with shiny wooden peers, a large sleeping quarters that dug down into the lower reaches of the boat, large flexible sails, and the symbol of the Freedom Fighters engraved on the backside. It was creaky and rocked in the slight ocean breeze, but it appeared to be safe, stable, and able to carry at least 6 individuals at a time. Sonic and the others were thoroughly impressed with how it came out even when it was made by Tails with the aid of Knuckles. Knuckles, of all people.

"Wow, a boat. I....Did not really expect that much pride into making a sea raring mode of transportation," Sonic, still dumbfounded, remarked in a very snarky tone. "though, how is this relevant to the whole relaxation thing you talked of earlier, or am I missin' something from all this?" Knuckles and Tails' smiles only grew from the remark. They were pretty much shaking in anticipation and impatience at this point.

"Don't you see???" The young fox excitably asked.

"WE'RE GOING ON A BOAT TRIP!" The two dorks answered full of such unforeseen glee that it was strange.  
Sonic's stomach sank.

Wait. A boat trip?! You mean, physically going onto the open, dangerous sea with just a small little wooden thing keeping you separated from the water and the area with no water?! Oh no! That is not what Sonic had in mind for a vacation, let alone having a vacation at all! To think his nightmares every night were the worst, but now, Sonic's worst fear had finally found him: water. He began to sweat which made Tails give his much older buddy a questioning frown.  
"Oh dear. Are you doing okay? You're shaking-"

"Why did you two not WARN me that we were gonna TRAVEL ON THE OPEN WATER?!" The blue blur lashed out. Tails then has the sudden realization. He totally drew a blank and forgot that Sonic a major phobia of water.

"Okay....we may have a bit of an obstacle with this..." The echidna chuckled nervously. "So. It appears some of us have forgotten that the guy who needed vacations the most is afraid of water, the only vacation Tails and I have planned. Well this surely is embarrassing..." The others were reluctant to say but they appeared to all agree to him, even Shadow, who just shrugged it off. "I believe It'd be best to go back to square-"

"Actually." Sonic intervened. He gulped his words harshly. "I...I wanna try to face it." The hedgehog's companions all stopped their muttering and turned to him with questionable stares. "I want to face my fear, that is. Knuckles. Thank you for the opportunity. As much as I love to stay on nice dry land and away from any and all water sources bigger then a swimming pool, I-" he gulped; this was going to be a little painful to say thanks to his stubbornness.

"You are right. We all need this break, especially me, I guess.." This surely put a smile on the echidna's face, he now patted both Sonic's shoulders and laughing.

"Told ya you'd love it, I knew it!"

"Great, our 'biggest' problem is finally solved," Shadow announced unimpressed. "Now, when exactly do you suppose we go off?"

"I assume we are gonna leave first thing tomorrow morning," Silver answered.

"And right you are," Tails nodded despite the response being towards the ebony hedgehog. "That should supposedly give us enough time to collect some valuables and prepare for a whole month on the boat."

"A full MONTH?!" The blue blur yipped. That is a little too much, don't you think? A few relaxing days on the sea is not so bad; it is doable. A full month, that is a whole other story. There were jobs and missions Sonic needed to attend to, lots of training and battle strategizing in case that foul Eggman decided to poke his nose out from his lair door and do something stupid. He did not want another Freedom Fighters raid incident from happening again when he is on a very rickety boat with his pals, soaking up rays of sun and sipping milk from coconuts.

"Hello down there, fellas~" a flirtatious voice called from above.

The proper-mannered yet mischievous fruit bat--Rouge, was flying overhead carrying what seemed to be a large backpack full of technological equipment, some vacation clothing and a couple stolen gems sticking out from pockets here and there.

"Well, well...look what the tides dragged along." Knuckles rubbed his eyes and sighed.

"I overheard your little conversation, and I, too think a good break is needed for all of us," Rouge chuckled. "It'd be fun to have a quiet, relaxing month with just me, you fellas, my romance books, and my sweetheart echidna Knuckie~" the red echidna growled quietly, Shadow smirking in the background. Rouge came down from her flight and swung the bag over her right shoulder and tossed it onto the sandy ground. "But in all seriousness, G.U.N. has been up my and Shadow's tails for months. Relentless work and missions. Just one small damn break can be a good change of pace, even if it was just a month."

"Even I find the work G.U.N. has been dispensing to us to be quite the challenge," the ebony hedgehog rubbed along his chest hair. "Like Rouge said, a break would be a nice little breather from what has been happening. Omega denied our invite for the boat ride. He said he was needed back at home base in case the doctor begins planning another scheme."

"I'm surprised that your boss even lets you leave the building," Sonic remarked.

Shadow exhaled, nodding his head. "I do too, blue. I do, too."

There was a couple minutes of silence. Then Amy stood up.

"I believe you all should go get ready now. Lunch will be served soon and you don't really have all day to get ready." Everyone agreed with her. Silver was the first to leave for his room and grab his stuff for the journey. Everyone was off in the same direction, all except Amy and Tails who were both heading off in the other direction.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on," the blue hedgehog dashed over and blocked Tails and Amy's path. "Where you two goin'? I thought you were coming along." The two Mobians looked at each other.

Wellll, about that, Sonic," Tails scratched behind his ears. "...I promised to help out Nicole in the laboratory with surveying the other closer territories to the mainland. And Amy volunteered to go out to Westopolis and to get aid from the Chaotix." The pink hedgehog nodded in agreement.

"Oh," the two saw disappointed Sonic became and they felt a little pity for him. The only one person that Sonic feels most comfortable with on that boat is Knuckles, and he is not really that much of a help either due to his hot headedness, unfortunately.

"I have an idea, you two stay put," the fox proclaimed and he flew off towards the direction of his room. Amy and Sonic were alone, which seemed like heaven to Amy and...rather awkward for the older blue hedgehog.

"That is quite a noble thing to do, going out to Westopolis by yourself to get the Chaotix," Sonic acknowledged. Amy's cheeks were blushed with an apple red color.

"Oh Sonic, how you spoil me with your words," she snickered. "And yes. We need all the help we could provide to investigate what exactly happened 8 months ago. The Chaotix being detectives and pretty decent investigators would be our best bet." The blue blur smiled but something still was off about him. "You gonna be okay? I mean, a month will probably be a bit of a stretch for you, even on a boat." The blue hedgehog was hesitant to speak at first.

"Who, me? No no no! It's fine. It's me who should be asking you about goin' off to the city alone is a good plan. I'll be fine. But you-"

"Same with you." Amy cut Sonic off. "I'll be A-okay. I can always just get Omega to come for the ride and be my partner on the journey."

"You're not wrong. He IS one heck of a body guard," Sonic laughed. The two laughed together with that little joke. They chuckled and giggled about the thought of Omega shaping himself into a suit of armor for Amy to wear as she crossed the deserts and long rows of mountains, long enough that-

Tails finally showed back up with a small cubic device grasped in his hand, a phone or communicator of some type. He tossed it to Sonic who immediately caught it and observed its features. The device was small and blue--a good color--and a small glass screen covered its front. Some small buttons laid underneath it.

"...this is a phone, isn't it?" The hedgehog said.

"No!" The fox blurted. "I mean, not exactly, but it is a special communicator that allows us to see you back at the base and check in on you. So, yeah, it technically can be classified as a 'phone', but it is much more advanced than one can ever be." Sonic smiled and rubbed the fur on Tails' head once again, a double head scratch which Tails did not mind at all. In fact he enjoyed it.

"Never stop being amazing, little buddy."

"Hey Sonic," Silver, who appeared to still be outside, shouted to blue blur. "You gonna come along to get your things or are you gonna stand there and talk to your girlfriend some more??" The light grey hedgie levitated away laughing at his own self amusement. Sonic rolled his eyes and decided it was time for vacation preparations.

"Welp. The guys need me. I'll be back in a jiffy!" And with no waiting, the blue hedgehog ran off in a hurry to the Freedom Fighter sleeping quarters.

"Are you absolutely positive he's gonna need that stupid device latched to him everywhere he goes," the pink hedgehog asked the small yellow fox.

"In all honesty," Tails replied. "He's gonna need it. Even with the plan of relaxing in mind, with all the stuff that's been going down this month, only Chaos knows what might happen out there."

💧💧💧💧💧

The whole night the gang of five got all their belongings and necessities for what seemed to be for a long journey when in reality it was for a month long vacation. People like Silver and Rouge collected as much stuff as they can carry in their arms, while Knuckles only grabbed him and the others food and water to survive on. He had no sunscreen or glasses with him but he trusted that Rouge would bring along that sort of stuff. Shadow collected some oddities like candles, a very decorative poncho--possibly for shielding oneself from the rain--, and a small heart locket dusted in cobwebs and scratches in the paint. Finally, Sonic gathered some books that Sally provided him during the move to the base a while back, a pair of the finest looking shades any Mobian has ever seen, a cooler (which still has freshly cooked chili dogs sitting inside), and lastly, a small family picture of Sonic with his parents, his uncle, his aunt Aleena and her children--Sonic's cousins--Sonia and Manic. Sonic did see Sonia and Manic more as siblings rather than cousins, but that was besides the point.

He found a small sheet of paper, wrote a small note, and settled it down on his bed addressed to his parents. He dashed outside back to the beach to drop off his stuff. But then he took a look at the moon. It was way too early in the night for setting sail; Tails did say the afternoon that sailing any earlier than the next morning would be a death sentence. Sonic was unsure why his best buddy would say something like that but he paid mind to it anyhow. He rushed back in and placed his stuff down on the bed and went to sleep.

A very small time went by but was eventually due to the blue blur having ANOTHER nightmare. It was not as gruesome as the one from the night before (thank Mobius for that) but, it was still terrifying regardless. That sentence, "SHE SHALL BE YOUR DOWNFALL", it appeared again in a more forced and much more serious tone. But today was the vacation, so Sonic decided not to dwell on it for too long. He had saggy eyes, again. 

The gang outside came much later than Sonic, they all carried their personal items with them in droves. Silver had the most stuff to bring along which was understandable because he always dreamed of the sea in his world that was consumed by fire.

"Mornin', ladies and gentlemen," Sonic winked. Pretty soon, a whole swarm of people in the Freedom Fighters team were right behind Sonic's main crew. His eyes widened from the sheer size of the group.

"I meant to say, good morning, everyone," he laughed from his shock. Knuckles and Shadow volunteered to carry all the belongings right onto the ship. They were placed in an orderly fashioned near the sides in front, right where the steering wheel stood. Soon the others loaded themselves onto the ship and got ready to go. Rouge donned a pair of gorgeous pink sunglasses and a large sun hat with a small purple flower clipped to it. Silver had on just some reading glasses and a small sun hat (one to almost match Rouge's) and Knuckles had a long bandana wrapped round his neck like a starving viper. In fact, everyone was wearing something for the trip excluding Shadow and Sonic, however the ebony hedgehog did have that golden heart locket around his neck.

Perfect! The cargo was all set, everyone gathered all the things they needed for the trip, and finally it was time to say goodbye. Sonic approached his old pal Sally who had her arms crossed.

"Don't look at me like that, Sal," the hedgehog smirked. "It'll be just fine. A month on the water won't kill me. Honest." The squirrel sighed.

"I know, but still, just be careful outside. I don't want to lose a good friend." Her ears dropped. Sonic felt pity for his royal friend; he placed his hands on her shoulder and grabbed her into a hug. Tails came from beside him in a need of a hug. The hedgehog was glad to, scooping up his brother and hugging him tightly.

"I'm gonna add to what Sally said," the fox spoke. "Stay safe out on the ocean. From what has been happening lately these past few months, I worry something will happen out there..."

"C'mon buddy, don't worry about us goin' out there," the hedgehog tried to reassure his little brother. "A month is a little long, but we're not going on some sort of year long trip to ease the soul, or something magical of that sort. Besides, if something bad were to happen, we got powerhouses on the boat. Shadow could basically wipe out the whole competition, let along me. So trust us." The fox was silent for a short while, but then he nodded.

Suddenly Amy came rushing over towards her hero and showered him in kisses. It was a death trap only Sonic could be stuck in.

"You best watch your back, Sonic, or you'll know what'll happen." She drew out her hammer but the hedgehog already got the point. He walked back onto the boat and waited for all the others to wrap up their goodbyes. He saw all of them greet, embrace and leave behind their close comrades. Omega was probably the most upset to see them all go, but it wasn't that obvious due to his emotionless metal features. Uncle Chuck was the last one there waving at Sonic and yelling at him to "keep his quills I'm one piece or he'll get an earful from his folks". The blue hedgehog smirked, rolled his eyes and gave a thumbs up.

There was one thing that bothered him, however. Not just the ocean was to blame, but out of all the people that were leaving for the trip, Silver had no one to say goodbye to. Sonic was skeptical but decided not to push it further.

Soon the boat was eased off the beach, sand was kicked up and dissolved into the ocean waters, and some shells were now visible in the imprint left behind. The sails stretched out to the wind current.

"Ich," Sonic groaned. "Not even a few hundred feet from shore, and I am already startin' to feel queasy."

"Don't worry about it, Sonic," Knuckles approached his sick friend. "If you need to let it all come out-" he pulled out a small rusty bucket. "-just use this bucket. It'll be the perfect tool for any sort of sea sickness." Sonic smiled.

"Thanks, Knux. I'll make good use of it."

They were finally off on a good adventurous vacation, just a month of bonding and relaxation were ahead of them.

But the true test is to see how well they can stand each other and perhaps go against what may happen out there. But, it's just the ocean, a calming presence to have on Mobius. 

What could possibly go awry?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! A chapter so early??? The reason, you may ask, is that I already have the entire draft of the first three chapters (along with the prologue) are all finished so I just need to draft the chapters so on and so forth.


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic and his little crew of five find a strange fish; Angst and fun stuff ensue

The first week out on the water went by fast, the days for the crew mostly consisting of talking and joking around a small campfire Rouge made herself, Sonic talking to his folks and work companions via his new communicator, and fish for supper. The only times Sonic had to desperately use the bucket was when he ate raw fish out of curiosity.

Never again.

Today, day 9 on the water, Knuckles and Sonic were fishing for lunch together, while the others were either just hanging out bored out of their minds or doing something simple like small talk. The blue hedgehog was feeling especially queasy today so he believed a little fishing would help him keep his mind away from the sickness. He clutched hard onto the rod and looked amongst the water, it sloshed against the boat in small rows of waves. The water was dark and unseeable. The red echidna beside Sonic was in tight focus on his fishing rod.

"Since when did you decide that fishing was your type of hobby?" The hedgehog questioned. Knuckles looked over his shoulder.

"Big taught me a while ago, back when he and I got lost on an island. It helped improve my patience." Sonic nodded. He drew his attention back to the fishing rod; no tugs and no actions towards it whatsoever. However, his stomach wheezed once again and he could feel bile enter his upper throat.

"G-Gimme a sec!" He swiftly let go of the rod, perched it inside a small crack on the boat and went off in search of the bucket to lose his lunch in. Silver and Rouge averted their eyes and covered each other's ears. Knuckles stared back onto the sea. The sun was glistening and hanged low in the sky, indicating that soon sundown will be upon them. He felt so at peace, something the red echidna has not felt in such a long time. Guarding the Master Emerald and the added bonus of the Freedom Fighters raid incident threw him for a loop. Now all he could think about was the calming waters, the seagulls that screeched overhead...and Sonic hurling into his bucket.

Well, not everything is gonna be pleasant.

A small creak was made from the wedges of the boat, grabbing the guardian's attention. Sonic's fishing poll had a bite.  
Knuckles could not contain his excitement. "Sonic! Get back over here, your rod is tugging!" He could hear his seasick pal groan from below deck.

"Hold on hold on! I'll be right there!" The sound of Sonic's shoes dashing up the creaky boat stairs squeaked. Soon the hedgehog was right at his rod and grabbed ahold of it once more, too focused to notice the other passengers crowding around him as he struggled with the rod.

"Hey hey hey! Careful with the rod!" The echidna scolded. "Use some of the slack I've taught you. Not brute strength!"

"Calm your waters, Knux," Sonic growled; Rouge found that comment a little humorous. Sonic kept on tugging and releasing his strength, tugging and relaxing, over and over and over. This one fish sure was a feisty little sucker but he was going DOWN!! It was quite the suspenseful watch until finally Sonic had the right amount of energy to pull the rod upwards and the fish came right out from the water. It landed on the deck with a splat, flapping and slapping away.

"Gotcha, ya little scaly prick!" The blue hedgehog held it up with pride. Silver politely clapped, and Rouge and Knuckles acknowledged how large it was. Shadow only stared at the fish unamused but somewhat proud at how hard it was to catch.

"Would look at the size of this thing," Knuckles was bewildered. "Big and I have caught large fish plenty of time in the past, but this fella...Mother of Chaos, this guy, this is a monster."

"Hey! That is no way to speak to an innocent fish like that," Rouge joked. Silver chuckled as well. Sonic was too busy examining the fish to laugh along with the two. He got to the mouth and its lips when he stopped.

"He's got something lodged inside his mouth," the hedgehog said. "And I don't think it is the bait." Knickers, a little confused, took the fish off the hook and pried open the mouth. He gasped. There was a strangely shaped object caught in the fish's throat. Now the echidna had to time this perfectly. Slowly but surely he stuck one finger into the fish's mouth--it was now squirming from the present of the echidna's finger--and pulled the object right out.

Knuckles then tossed it to Rouge. She peered around it in all its little nooks and crevices. The object was medium sized and shaped like a rock, it was covered in salt water and some sort of light blue moss or seaweed. Crevices lined all across it with the bait still attached outside it. The fish seemed happy that the object is no longer in its mouth.

"What is it?" Silver hovered over, curious. "It appears to look like-"

"Some sort of rubble," the bat finished the hedgehog's sentence. "Knuckles, do you suppose this is from a...certain temple?"

The red echidna shook his head. "No. Angel Island is located farther North than where we are currently. I told Sally and the others to keep observing it while I'm absent, which is a very difficult job for me as it is. Besides, that piece of rubble looks nothin' like the material the temple is made up of." He handed the fish back to Sonic and snatched the object from Rouge's hands. "It looks too...oceanic."

"Perhaps an underwater temple or one that sunk into said ocean long ago?" Shadow suggested.

"From now it looks, this piece did not simply just fall off," Silver chimed in. "It looked to have been blown off." He pointed right at the little cracks and crevices lining the rubble piece. "Wherever it came from, the building or structure was attacked or completely destroyed." Knuckles seemed to agree with the grey hedgehog but he focused more at the sun which was shifting into a reddish-orange color while the sky was fading to a gorgeous purple and vibrant pink.

"Well, this conversation will have to wait," the red echidna apologized. "We should probably get this fish cooking, then we could discuss more of this tomorrow morning." Dinner was being served.

The fish was surprisingly tasty for its odor and rather ugly colors. It was much better tasting than any of the other fish Knuckles and Sonic whipped up over the last 9 days out in the sea. And surprise surprise, this was the only fish Sonic or any of the others managed to keep down in their stomachs.  
Hurray for no food poisoning!  
The five Mobians spent the rest of the night telling stories and legends.

Sonic went first by telling a tale of almost drowning in a small lake near his home Knothole, the origin of his water based fears. Apparently a kid shoved the poor hog without a bit of a warning and nearly died trying to swim out. It's good thing Sonia, his older cousin, was a much better swimmer than he was. Afterwards the red echidna Knuckles told of his times traveling and fishing with Big and Mighty. They were some of the most patient fishermen, he said, while himself was a rampaging mess of a guardian attempting to attract just an ordinary sardine. The others found that story hilarious, especially Rouge who poked fun at him every five minutes during it.

Then came Silver, overjoyed with getting into his story about how he first learnt about the eternal fire and Iblis itself. It was a very good story at first, but slowly turned to a depressing spiral of destruction with how every member the hedgehog knew in the Iblis Resistance met their horrifying demises. It caught everyone off guard, even with Rouge and Shadow who have been in very similar situations throughout the years. Lastly, Sonic was going go regale another one of his stories in his road to heroism, but the poor blue boy fell asleep after Silver wrapped up his. This was an indicator that it was probably the best time to go to bed.

The boat had two layers: the top deck--where only Knuckles and Shadow slept-- and the lower quarters--the area where everyone else were resting in. There were a few rooms in the lower sleeping quarters despite the boat being small; it was an example of something being bigger on the inside than it is outside. Sonic and Silver shared a room, the blue blur sleeping in a hammock while the grey hedgehog gladly slept on a soft mattress along the floor. Rouge slept by herself in the room next to them. That night the blue hedgehog was caught in another nightmare.

It began with him in a scenario similar to today's fishing session. Sonic was near the edge of the boat with a very large fishing rod. The dream appeared to look realistic except the sky was in an inert state of green dotted with blue clouds. Everything else looked pretty accurate. The blue blur kept his gaze at the water in hopes he would catch a fish.

So far no strange things happening in this dream, Sonic hopefully thought, humming a ditty. This could possibly be my first good dream in months. Unfortunately, that thought was enough to jinx the whole dream. The hedgehog felt a hard tug at his rod so he instinctively began pulling and tugging. This fish was a much more aggressive fighter than the one in real life. So Sonic has to work on maneuvering and pulling much harder than he's ever done only without snapping the rod. He tugged, pulled upwards, and readjusted his sitting spot for a few long minutes, he was losing steam. He looked down and thankfully he spotted a large amount of bubbles escaping the waters. The blue hedgehog now had a very wide smile.

"Finally!! Come t' me, you slimy pain-in-the-spines," he thrusted his arms upwards and the fish came from the wafer. It rose by itself and it was much bigger. The fish....or whatever it was, resembled a large sea snake with rows of sharp teeth pointing from all its gums, sprouting from its mouth. Some were crooked and broken. Its face was covered in multiple pearly white eyes, and the creature itself was the purest white any could ever imagine. Sonic sat there in shock.

"Wh-what on-" the hedgehog was finding it hard to speak. "What...on Mobius are you?!" With that the creature lunged at Sonic. He tried to rise up from his spot but the hedgehog was stuck in sitting position. He was practically glued to the boat. The creature did not hesitate when it bit down on the boat and swallowing him whole. The place was dark and empty, looking nothing like the belly of a monster. Then it shifted and Sonic found himself in a strange open room. It looked like the interior of a temple.

He decided to pick himself up and explore where he was.

"Hello?" He called out. He looked at the walls. There were drawings, ancient illustrations of strange Eldritch looking monsters. One resembled the same monster he dreamt of back on the island many nights ago. He had a sudden urge to stroke it and look at it, and so Sonic did. He peered at it, it was very angular and was a very alien organism not ever seen in Mobian mythology. Hell, even Chaos himself looked very recognizable compared to this atrocious beast. He petted the full illustration, it growled and a small text appeared above it as if the blue hedgehog was secretly magic. He read it:

"Thy good king of the distressed world of yonder;  
"Thy chaotic messenger of dreams for those who are dreaming;  
"Thy humble beast whom ponders and wanders,  
"whom wished thou peaceful folk good tidings, and gave sins and torture to the damned;

"UDAT THE GENTLE."

Sonic was stricken with a sudden heart attack when the walls suddenly burst open in loud noise and out pierced many wavering paper-thin arms. The arms were pale white illuminating in the dark drawing halls, they squirmed and waved around like restless worms and they were restless for Sonic. The blue hedgehog was paralyzed in shock but soon cut out of that state. The hands ceased their waving and then began to try to reach out for him.  
"Oh no!! I am not going to be the victim to these monstrosities this time!!" He growled, revving up and bolting away down the halls. He curled into a spin dash in order to outrun the hands. But they were just as swift as he was, many more pierced through the illustrated walls with rubble and pieces of ancient drawings being flung around and sometimes smacking his face. Sonic just kept on running without turning back panting away and praying he'd make it out alive. But some of the long bony hands caught up to him close enough to where one grasped ahold on of Sonic's ankles and manage to make him stumble over his shoes. He collapsed to the floor, more of the hands burst from the walls and began to gather on his body. Pretty soon millions were emerging and grabbing hard onto his body.

"What is happening?!" He cried out. "WHAT ARE YOU?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?! LET GO OF ME!!" He struggled to move his legs and arms but to no avail. "WHAT DO YOU WANT SO BADLY FROM ME?!?!"

He tried to squeeze and maneuver out of their tight grasps but he was permanently stuck in their grip. They began to whisper "she will be your downfall" in very hushed tones, despite the hands not owning a mouth. Something emerged from ahead of Sonic in the darkness, it was unclear what or who it was but they looked their large and muscular. Very reptilian in appearance with the exception of large feathered wings and antlers. Two marble eyes were shown through the void, staring blankly at the suffering hedgehog.

"Stop this! I don't have anything you want!! Let GO of me!!" But the figure spoke nothing. The thin wavering arms began to pull Sonic away back from where he spent so long running to, back into what was another void he found himself in. He yelled no in a desperate voice and tried to use his hands to pull back. His nails dug into the stone floor however the hands were strong. The farther the hedgehog was dragged, the closer the anonymous figure strode closer to him, looking upon him with the same glittering white eyes. They were unsettling and frankly were making Sonic panic even further.

"Let m-me go! Please...Un-Unhand me!!" The blue hedgehog begged, whimpering now. "Unhand me!!" The figure still remained silent and walking forwards as he kept being dragged into the darkness. "DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND ME?!" The hedgehog was desperate enough to now use his sharp teeth to slow down and resist being moved along. But just as his front teeth hit the floor his gums bled from the intense heat it apparently emitted. He winced and was close to giving up. The hedgehog was practically engulfed into the darkness now with the hands still dragging him, but now the beast had disappeared with only the pearl-shaped eyes still glistening.

"STOP IT!! LET GO OF ME!!" Sonic yelled out. The eyes grew closer and closer, the whispers soon increased in intensity and velocity. The words of the chanting whisper were soon flashing in the void and demonic noises could be heard. Sonic was now crying big fat tears as they streamed like waterfalls from his eyes. The blue blur rarely ever cried this much, not even a few simple tears. But he was growing more agitated and scared by the minute.

"Let go of me! LET go of ME!!! LET GO, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?! Let. go-" the eyes were so close to the hedgehog and then from the silence that rang in the pitch black void, a massive pair of of white jagged jaws emerged from out of the blue and engulfed Sonic into a dead state of darkness with no return.

💧💧💧💧💧

"STOP IT!!!"

Sonic screeched out to the high heavens as he spontaneously woke up from his slumber then proceeding to lose balance and slam to the floor from his hammock. His noise then awakened his roommate Silver from his own dreams.

"Abandon ship!!! Abandon ship! Abandon-...." The grey hedgehog cried before snapping out of his half-awake state and looked around the room. He saw his buddy Sonic on the floor panting heavily and shivering. He was whimpering, a rarity for the hedgehog. "Are you...did you just fall from your hammock?" He crawled closer to the other; the poor guy was shaking like a leaf. He was whimpering much more clearly now. The blue hedgehog flopped over and was met eye-to-eye with an upset Silver.

"H-How much...d-did you hear?" he asked, stuttering in between quaking breaths.

"Not a lot," the grey one replied. He looked at Sonic. He was in fetal position with his arms hugging his knees against his body. The blue hedgehog wiped some sweat from his brow and got up slightly.

"I-I'm fine n-now, Si-Silver. Go back...to bed..." He lied, still shivering in fear. "Didn't mean t'...w-wake you." The grey hedgehog, however, refused to listen and obey. It was now much harder to keep himself (Sonic) together and from collapsing again out of terror. He took a long, tired sigh and looked at Silver again.

"G-got..any room in...y-your bed??" The grey psychic seemed to like that answer much better condemning he then gives a sad smile.

"I thought you'd never ask." He crawled in his hands and knees and helped his poor roommate over to where he was sleeping. The mattress was, indeed, very soft and very comforting. Three pillows laid near the top. Sonic got onto the right side of the bed where a lamp was left on the whole night; some books were scattered by it, too. Silver had no problem sleeping away from the light. They laid in bed for a good 10 minutes in complete silence, until the psychic spoke up.

"Did you have a nightmare?" He asked. A minute of silence came over them.

"Yes." his friend finally replied. Another minute of silence.

"...do you remember what it was about?" Silver asked next.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"...oh. That's fair." Silver turned over at from Sonic and slowly shut his eyes. The two remained silent for what felt like eternity, trying to fall asleep again, but something was still bothering Sonic. Though he did not want to speak more he couldn't keep out the details of his nightmare in his mind. The clock chimed a little tune. It had just turned 2:30 in the morning.

"Every day, Silver," Sonic broke out.

Silver opened his eyes. "Hm?"

"Every day, another horrifying night terror...They just keep getting more furious and terrifying with little to no context to why. Why would they be this relentless?" The blue blur rambled on. A third moment of silence came in with both hedgehogs being in shock.

"Y'know, I've been having the same issues, Sonic," Silver confessed.

"Really? You of all people?" Sonic scoffed. "Haven't you noticed how positive you've been and content with how you're doing? Yeah, that story about the Iblis Resistance was...disturbing but that was just one little instance."

"I've been having nightmares about Blaze."

Sonic grew silent. "Blaze? Why her?"

"....She's been dead for 5 years, Sonic," Sonic could tell how Silver spoke about his nightmares, this was a tough subject for him. "I still recall the time she sacrificed herself, how Mephiles found out about your worth and killed you just to unlock Elise's ability. But in my dreams, Blaze was the one slaughtered by Mephiles in order to protect you. And all I could do is watch and pray. No attacking or exacting revenge on that crystal demon...just watch and pray." The blue hedgehog remained silent. "I...often have lucid dreams that have control over. I feel so free in those dreams, able to do whatever I please with no consequence. But this....these night terrors are torturous. With no abilities or power to stop my friends from getting killed or killing themselves, I....I feel so powerless. I am powerless." Some small tears formed in Silver's eyes, but he did not cry.

Sonic felt sadness for his friend. The guy was just keeping this facade so no one would worry about him. And it was appropriate for his behavior; his best friend died trying to save his world and felt hopeless when she did not return.

"I'm not sure if you're up for this...but do you wanna hug?" Sonic asked. The grey psychic turned over, wiping away his tears and nodded afterwards. The two embraced;

it was a very nice little hug, that's for sure. Neither Sonic or Silver have ever given hugs to each other, but it was worth it.

"Silver, dude, you are so soft," the blue hedgehog laughed. He stroked the long fins on the psychic's head. "I knew you were a ball of fur, but holy crap." Silver blushed and laughed quietly along with his friend.

"Why thank you," he replied, wiping some more tears from his eyes.

"I wonder...I wonder how fluffy Shadow is," Sonic thought out-loud and then grinned. "I mean, he's got that nice chest hair of his. Perhaps it's just as soft-"

"Shadow would kill you before you could even blink," Silver gave a word of discouragement, followed by a short moment of laughter.

"That's true. Very true." Sonic chuckled. The grey hedgehog yawned loudly and stretched all his limbs out, causing Sonic to unhand him.

"Welp. I definitely feel much better from that little conversation, but now I believe it's time to sleep," the grey hedgehog yawned again and rolled over on his side, away from Sonic. The other hedgehog was growing tired, too. He flopped over and closed his eyes, but upon doing so the boat shifted and turned. There was a bump underneath them.

"What was that?" Sonic sat up a little.

"Don't know, too tired to care." The grey hedgehog said groggily.

"Do you think it was a whale or somethin'-"

"Go to sleep, please."

"- heh, or maybe Knuckles is trying to steer the ship in the right direction-"

"Go. To. Sleep." Silver elbowed Sonic in the back and snarled in exhausted frustration. Sonic got the message and finally shut up, and closed his eyes for the night.

Meanwhile up on the deck, Knuckles and Rouge were the exact opposite of the two fur balls below deck. Shadow was sleeping like a baby in a hammock right next door and was trying to drown out the sounds of his two neighbors occasionally yelling at each other for lord knows why. But for most of the night, Rogue had set up some of her observational equipment and intensely studied the piece of rubble they discovered. She seemed awfully fascinated by it for the so-called 'dull' rubble was actually very shiny under her spying glass's lens.

"My my, such beauty," she purred. "What was I thinking earlier?! This is no stupid piece of useless crap, it's a worthy trinket."

"Could you keep it down over there, Rouge?" Knuckles looked up from the steering wheel, annoyed. "You saying your feelings out loud for all to hear is really frustrating to ignore." The bat huffed and went back to her studies. While peering in the crevices of the handful sized rubble, she spotted in the corner of her eye Knuckles rubbing his temples and writing away in this small journal he had.

That is very strange, Rouge thought. But she kept her attention on her curiosity. She tapped the sides and they crumbled, making the bat yip. But then, like it was some sort of coincidental dream, she squinted and saw some very bright and colorful objects inside. They looked to be like geodes, valuable underground rocks that can take the shade of all sorts of colors.

Rouge's favorites.

"Hold up," she smiled. "What are you pretty little things doin' in this little piece of rubble? My oh my...you are quite pretty~ Weird, but pretty." The red echidna--agitated by all the noise his roommate was causing--closed his journal and walked on over, looming over the bat.

"Now WHAT are you swooning about this-" he looked down and spotted the geodes the bat discovered in her hands. "-time?" He squinted, awfully confused of what Rouge exactly found. "Excuse me? What am I exactly looking at?"

"You won't believe this, big guy," she said. "While just poking and prodding, these geodes somehow emerged from the crumbling rubble. Not sure if they are just regular geodes or perhaps-"

"Mummified gems?" Knuckles suggested.

"Not sure, but that is my second guess. The rubble itself, now with the gems, look to have been in somewhere like an old cathedral or lair. Wherever they originated from, this stuff is ancient."

"Appears to be more like the treasure deep in a temple..." The red echidna added on, taking the geode from the bat's hands. Rouge's eyes then lit up in splendor.

"A temple! The rubble was found a couple kilometers from where we are now! If rubble managed to float its way across the ocean floor to here, this 'temple' you describe must be close by! We have to go!!" Rouge was now in midair and grasping hard onto Knuckles' thick braids.

The echidna's brows furrowed. "Absolutely not." He peels Rouge's hands off of his locks and sets her down easy on the floor. "Tails and I worked tirelessly scheduling and planning out this vacation. And I do not want to throw it all away for the sake of some measly treasure hunt! 

"Ugh, C'mon, Knuckie. We have been out here for 9 days!! No one wants to be stuck on a small boat in the middle of the ocean with people that only want limited interaction." Knuckles was already wandering off back to his little desk. She hovered over after him. "Besides, a little treasure hunt could be a breath of fresh air for the five of us. I think Sonic would appreciate getting off this boat." It was clear Knuckles agreed with her just from the expression on his face. He sat down slowly and opened his journal, beginning to write in it again.

"You okay with Amy going with Omega to Westopolis?" Knuckles changed the subject. The bat turned to him.

"Eh. I really have no bias to that," she replied, her eyes still peeled on the geodes. "It IS for a good cause, of course, so Omega will surely have a ball with destroying any Badniks. But if there is a single dent on my sweet robotic brother, Amy'll get a special 'talk' from both me and Shadow." She cracked her knuckles, smiling aggressively.

"Fair, but don't get too aggressive." Knuckles was finishing a small paragraph when he felt a small but sharp pain pressing in his skull.

A headache, maybe? No, it felt a lot more spiritually than just a regular migraine. The echidna rose up hastily from his chair and scanned around the room with his head still banging with pain. Rouge noticed almost immediately and flew over to him.

"Are you okay?" She observed him. The red echidna appeared to be in a great mount of pain from just this one 'headache'. "Are you going through a migraine?? Should I grab Shadow?" Knuckles removed her hand away from his head and moved to another side of the room.

"No no, it's not that," he paused. "God. I can't be going through....this again. They haven't been seen in-"

"What hasn't been seen? Who is this 'they' you're talking about?" Rouge was growing more concerned. The red echidna turned to her.

"Rouge, I think...I think there is a Chaos Emerald nearby."

The bat's eyes widened. The Chaos Emeralds have not been heard from for over 2 years; the last time they were even utilized was when Sonic faced off against Dark Gaia with the aid of a gigantic golem composed of all the Gaia Temples. After that whole ordeal was through, they vanished away never to be seen again. But now Knuckles can sense one of them, and he has an idea of where it is. The red echidna rushed out to the boat's deck with no hesitation and took hold of the steering wheel. The bat rushed outside behind him. The wind outside that early morning was gusting by, making Rouge's cheek fur and her large ears flop in the wind.

"You wanted a treasure hunt, Rouge?" Knuckles turned to the bat. "Let's go have a treasure hunt." He sharply steered the small vessel into the direction his emerald link was pulling him strongest. Rouge seemed very happy by that comment, she was squealing and clapping her hands.

"Finally! Time for the TRUE vacation to commence!" She chanted on-and-on about finally getting her hands on that once missing Chaos Emerald after months of searching. This woke up Shadow not too long afterwards. There was a singular bump during their detour, a similar one they felt back with a Sonic and Silver. But that did not worry Knuckles or the others much, the echidna believing a whale just brushed up against the bottom of the boat. But what really was brushing underneath was not a living organism. But what they didn't know, a red and gold whale-shaped submarine was right underneath the tiny vessel and began to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter for y'all
> 
> Sorry if it looks like I'm cranking them out too fast don't worry. It's all over for now.  
> I'm almost done with chapter 3 so it will not be out for another....oh I don't know, maybe a week. So I the story will slow down for now.


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang are on the search for a special little rock in an area of least interest, especially to Sonic. It turns out this little treasure hunt of theirs will eventually become some bigger adventure that is yet to come. Oh, and Eggman and his bots are gonna be a big part, too, I guess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Just a little heads up, this chapter will be MUCH longer than the first two, and there will be lots of vular language ahead. The next chapter will have much more action and violence.*

Gusts of heavy wind were soaring around the sea the rest of that cloudy day. Shadow donned his thick poncho and small golden heart locket to shield himself from the wind shear. Sonic and Silver came up from below deck a few hours later, around 7:15 in the morning for breakfast. For the first time in what seemed like forever, the blue blur looked well rested and happy; the small talk with his roommate must've helped a lot. Silver was currently wearing the same blue wooly sweater he made more than a week ago, levitating and skimming the ocean water with his gloved hands. Though with the rubbery protection of his gloves, the water was chilling and made the psychic's hands numb.

Once everyone (or should I say, all 5 of them) woke up, they sat together on the deck and ate what was currently available in Knuckles' baggage for breakfast. The blue hedgehog finally made use of the cooler he had in possession, taking out a cold but freshly made chili-dog and heated it up using one of Rouge's mechanisms. She was not really happy by the choice however she did not mind in the end as long as the mechanism was remained clean. Silver was the only one who did not choose to eat, for he was having the time of his life.

"Brrr...." Sonic shivered; the wind chill was uncomfortably cold that morning. "Forgot h-how cold i-it was on th-the open water..." Everyone appeared to agree with the blue blur with the exception of Shadow who was nonchalantly sipping a cup of coffee.

"Shoulda gotten yourself a cloak, a scarf of something," the ebony hedgehog suggested. "The all powerful blue blur doesn't wanna get frost bite out here, does he?" He sneered and drank more coffee.

"Why bring a poncho when you have fur the eye can see," Sonic snapped. "Surely you're feeling hot in that tacky thing." The black hedgehog crunched his ceramic coffee cup and scowled at the blue hedgehog.

"In case you were wondering, hedgehog, I actually am feeling quite the opposite at the moment," Shadow added a snarl to each word he spoke. "You should be askin' Silver that question. He has puffy fur in areas I did not know fur could grow in. Go bother him, or better yet, don't bother ANY of us."

"Wanna bet on that," Sonic replied, chuckling arrogantly. Rouge saw some tension growing between the two males so she attempted to intervene.

"Boys, gentlemen, listen," she flew over and went between them. "Knuckles is going through one of his...'moods'. So if I were the two of you, I'd keep my mouth shut and not argue this early in the morning." The two hedgehogs were quiet for a minute, until Sonic decided to ask a risky question.

"A 'mood'? Th' hell's that supposed to mean?" The bat was about to speak but she stopped herself, seeing the three hedgehogs staring at her. She immediately looked over her shoulder; Knuckles had his attention to the open sea and to the steering wheel. She turned back and squatted down to the blue hedgehog's sitting position.

"The truth is...you're not gonna believe this.." She started. "Knuckles knows where one of the Chaos Emerald is-"

"There's a CHAOS EMERALD?!" The blue hedgehog blurted out. Rouge tried shushing him but his joy could not be tamed. And unfortunately, the bat, too, was getting excited.

The Chaos Emeralds, they're still around?" Silver was genuinely surprised. "I thought they were destroyed after the whole Dark Gaia incident."

"Hold on. You did not mention this to me earlier this morning," Shadow joined in.

"I know! I know!" The bat gestured, smothered by all these persistent voiced. "This is a very exciting moment for us all. The best part is that we are gonna finally get off this stupid boat and get stuff done, for once! This is a very important occasion!!"

"We are only going into wherever the emerald is, and then we are getting right back our vacation," Rouge yelped when she noticed Knuckles standing right over her and speaking directly to her only.

"And what by any chance are you four talking about?" The bat's wings widened out in fright, slapping across Knuckles' face; he snarled.

"Oh! Sorry for that, big guy!" Rouge nervously apologized. The large red echidna moved Rouge's freakishly huge wings to the side. Right afterwards, the boat rocked and jumped upwards off the water, slamming right back into the water and making all the passengers on board lose their balance and fall. Silver glided back over to check what on Mobius just happened. Shadow was the only one who remained straight during the impact.

"What happened??" The silver hedgehog asked, concerned and levitating over to help up a few people to their feet. "Gotcha! I believe that was probably some rough currents or waves-"

"No." Knuckles said. He stuck his head overboard, into the water and peered around. He spotted it clear right under the boat, the thing he and Rouge were anticipating to see. The large submerged structure stood tall in a rectangular shape with massive towers--or at least that's what Knuckles thought it looked like. The more the red echidna stared down in the water, the more his head pulsated in agony. He rose up from the water and breathed in a large mass of oxygen.

"Found the temple." He announced, lightheaded and breathing heavily. Sonic bolted up.

"You're saying the Emerald is around here?! That is perfect!! I can finally get off this crummy sailboat and have a real adventure today!" He looked around above, but all he could is more ocean and the occasional seagull. He peered back over to his guardian pal.

"Um, Knux. I thought you said the temple was here." The blue blur questioned.

"It is here," the red echidna gulped afterwards. "But the place where it is, you are gonna hate me." He took the blue hedgehog by his shoulders, dragged him over to the side of the boat and pointed down in the water. Confused, Sonic gulped in a large breath and submerged his head in the water. He looked down farther until he saw the exact same structure his friend saw not too long ago. That was when his stomach sank again.

Oh. Oh for fuck's sake...

Sonic reemerged from the water and looked over to the red echidna.

"Knuckles. My friend, my buddy. This...is this some sort of practical joke, because this is not really funny." His red friend sighed and shook his head.

Sonic gulped in return. This could have not gotten worse already, but considering the temple--the current location of the Chaos Emerald--is many yards deep underwater, this definitely much worse than the blue hedgehog could imagine.  
"This is no joke...well, ain't that just swell.." The cobalt hero grumbled, rubbing his temples with frustration. "The Emerald is somewhere down there, where its dark and murky, and God knows what's down there." Shadow arose and sauntered over to the conflicted blue hedgehog.

"You said you wanted to face your fear," he commented. He then tore Sonic from the sweet and stable deck of the boat, and shoved him onto the rim. "This is the chance to do it, and it is practically screaming at you. We're going down there whether you want to or not, Faker. Got that?" Sonic replied, massaging the parts of his arms and back where the ebony hedgehog forcibly grasped onto his fur. But he winced and nodded. Knuckles slid onto the rim of the sailboat and dived right into the water. Rouge dove after Knuckles and was followed by Shadow, and lastly Silver. The cobalt hedgehog looked down at the water, distressed beyond belief.

"This cannot be happening..." he grumbled. He gulped in another large amount of air, plugged his nose and dove into the icy-cold ocean water headfirst, the first time he's done so in a very, very long time.

The teenage hedgehog attempted to think positively. Well, maybe Amy's doing better back at home...

💧💧💧💧💧

Amy stood atop a massive boulder that overlooked the searing hot valley. She was on the path to Westopolis to recruit Vector and his small team of Chaotix, but her moment of looking strong was intruded by Omega approaching her from behind. He shocked her with his presence, despite her being able to here the robot's cleaning feet drag across the barren floor.

"MAY I ASK WHAT YOU ARE DOING, AMY ROSE?" Omega loudly asked.

"Trying to look for a better angle of the city over yonder," the pink hedgehog answered. She tried looking outwards but only saw rock and more rock. "But apparently, the geography does not want to cooperate today." Omega's eyes flashed and he looked upon the rocks.

"THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE. THESE ROCKS SHOW NO SIGN OF VITAL LIFE AND MOVEMENT."

The pink hedgehog giggled. "I know, Omega. It was just a figure of speech."

"OH."

Amy's left wrist began to suddenly vibrate, but she knew exactly what that meant. Her communicator watch showed a notification that Princess Sally wanted to speak to her. She tapped the screen and heard the squirrel's familiar voice.

"Morning, Amy. I assume you and Omega have safely found your way to the desert outside of Westopolis."

"Yep! However we have a small problem," the hedgehog confessed.

"A problem? What do you mean there is a problem?" The squirrel, now concerned, replied back.

"Well, it is just a poor choice of landscaping on my behalf, Sally," Amy chuckled. The large robot stepped around her and scanned the area using his visor. The hedgehog looked over but continued to talk to Sally, up until Omega interrupted them.

"MY SCANNERS INDICATE A PATH WE CAN USE TO TRAVEL ACROSS THE CANYON DOWN TO THE GROUND FLOOR."

Amy's eyes widened. "Really? Well in that case, stay tuned Sally! We'll update you on our search to Westopolis."

"Was already planning on doing so," the royal squirrel said.

Amy and Omega were confirmed to go ahead with their mission, making their way carefully down the rocky, uneasy slopes of the canyon. They walked on for hours; the canyon itself was not a tiny hillside, stretching practically endlessly around the valley and the desert below. Boulders sat up ahead and all around the duo, but luckily, the trigger-happy gunner was well armed and Ames donned her hammer at all times. There were only a few hundred feet left of walking until they reached the bottom of the ginormous canyon. Amy noticed a few glimpses of the bustling city through the large spear-shaped rock formations sticking from the ground. The air was gusty and oppressive.

"Got anything yet, Ames?" Sally interrupted, making Amy jump slightly.

"Nothing yet," she stared up ahead at Omega leading the way. "However, I did see glimpses of the city, so perhaps another 7 hours or a little longer than that."

"Sounds good," the Princess spoke, very pleased. "A little heads up. There will be some radio silence once you trudge deeper into the valley, so if I cut off suddenly, it'll come back on as soon as you-" and from pure misfortune, Sally was instantly cut off just when the pair reached farther in the valley. Amy sighed and focused on the road again.

The large bot looked around the area scanning every tiny rock and dried up plant laying in their path. He turned his head over to his right, and he immediately stopped.

"AMY. MY SCANNERS HAVE SENSED THAT THERE IS ACTIVITY DOWN BELOW. I REQUEST WE REMAIN VIGILANT."  
Amy cocked her head. "By activity, what do you mean by that?" The robot in response turned back to his right and saw something else. Strange stony structures laid near the bottom of the valley, in a massive dusty field. There were about five or six of them each all orderly placed around the area.

"A VILLAGE." The robot proclaimed.

"A village??" Amy exclaimed, looking towards the same direction as Omega's. She saw the exact same thing, but this time she noticed about seventeen tiny blurred figures were stalking towards the village. "And it's got company. I think it's-"

"BADNIKS." Omega's eyes shifted to red and activated his two large guns manufactured in his hands. "THIS PLEASES ME."

Amy drew out her hammer, and the duo rushed down quickly down the rocky canyon path. The badniks mostly were Moto Bugs and Crabmeat, but about six Alphas were present, as well. The first Alpha took notice of the two intruders approaching them at a fast pace and Rose its guns in the other direction, signaling the other Badniks to raise their weapons. Two Moto Bugs were instantly smashed under the force of the pink hedgehog's mighty hammer, while Omega challenged the much bigger Alpha bots.

Another Crabmeat attempted to get close to the village but was swiftly broken and torn apart. The sound of bullets rang violently through the canyon.

A couple more Moto Bugs were rammed by the duo, getting smashed into various pieces across the village. An Alpha-bot spotted Amy who was wrestling around with some other persistent Badniks. It rose one of its guns and targeted right at the pink hedgehog's forehead from afar. Omega just finished obliterating another Alpha robot when he spotted the remaining Badnik pointing right at his colleague.

"AMY! BEHIND YOU!" Omega chirped loudly. The hedgehog heard him and was barely able to spot the robot standing over her, its guns loaded and ready to shoot. She bolted out of the way, Omega came hovering over and pointing out his own guns at the Alpha robot. The Badnik was blown away instantaneously from the bullet raining down from the other robot's gigantic guns. All the robots were finally dismantled and their parts scattered across the land. Amy appeared to be very exhausted while Omega looked rather upset.

"DISAPPOINTING," the bot contemptibly grumbled. "NOT MUCH OF A CHALLENGE. AT LEAST WE ARE STILL IN ONE PIECE AFTER THAT BATTLE. IT WAS NOT MUCH OF A FAIR FIGHT." Amy was to her knees, panting. Omega lumbered over to see if she was alright but she passively put her hand up before the robot volunteered to sit her down on a rock.

"I'm alright...Omega.." She reassured the robot, breathing heavily. "Haven't had a good little fight in a while. Heh, if only Sonic were here to see the two of us. Destroying robots and tearing them apart, saving a small rural village in this vast canyon. If only he could see us now." The pink hedgehog's cheeks flashed red.

"A VERY DESERTED VILLAGE I MIGHT ADD." The large bot pointed at. Omega was right; the village was in shambles. Amy did not realize all the houses were crumbling, some areas on the roof were molded with dry fungi and the foundations themselves were suffering in silence for what seemed like a long time.

"Oh yeah..." Amy said sarcastically. "Sonic would totally like to hear about us saving an abandoned village probably left to rot years ago." There was nothing else they could do but to walk so they took the time to look around the area. A crumbling fountain was still squirting water; some smaller objects were sticking out from the murky fountain water. Omega was currently scanning the area for any possible intruders so the pink hedgehog was by her lonesome exploring the small town.

Amy approached a small house with peeling cream-white paint and cracked windows. Moss and fungi were shockingly bountiful around the estate. The walls to the left were the only thing that really showed any resistance to what exactly caused the village, let alone the house itself to become what it is now.

"What exactly went down out here, and where are the people??" She spoke to herself, scratching her head. The sound of a falling rock interrupted her thoughts. The GUN robot looked above and saw someone standing there. A very tall but unrecognizable figure which blended in to the afternoon sky. He pulled out his guns but he hid them away as quickly as he got them out. It only took half a second for the strange humanoid entity to fall back and disappear from the building they stood on. However, unbeknownst to the figure, they left behind a very important item. A handgun that was covered in scratches and rust. Amy came running over, Piko Piko hammer grasped tightly in hand.

"What happened?!" She exclaimed. Her toe was stubbed while rung over to her partner. She hissed and bent down to pick up what gave her her pain. It was that exact handgun, the hedgehog stroked it delicately.

"THERE WAS THIS STRANGE PERSON WATCHING OVER US," Omega recalled. "THEY RAN OFF AS SOON MY GUNS WERE REVEALED. THAT IS UNCOMFORTABLE TO ME."

"This gun," Amy was fascinated by the small firearm she held carelessly in her hands. "It has no GUN symbol on the side of it. Do you suppose-"

"IT BELONGS TO THE EGGMAN EMPIRE? MOST LIKELY." Omega held out one of his metal hands. "I SHALL CRUSH IT NOW."

"NO!" Amy shouted, lunging backwards and hiding the gun. The robot flinched backward from the little hedgehog's over-the-top reaction. Amy realized her little display and straightened back up, clearing her throat. "Sorry...I, I just wanted to take it back for evidence."

"YOU BELIEVE IT WOULD HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH EGGMAN'S RATHER SUSPICIOUS DISAPPEARANCE?" The robot tilted his head. "PERHAPS. BUT WE DO NOT KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TYPE OF GUN THIS IS OR WHO IT MIGHT BELONG TO."  
"That is very true." The hedgehog nodded.

"THE ONLY PEOPLE I KNOW OF WHO COULD POSSIBLY PINPOINT THE TYPE OF GUN THIS IS WOULD BE EITHER ROUGE OR SHADOW, BUT THEY ARE NOT PRESENT NOW." He lowered his head. "I MISS THEM ALREADY." The pink Mobian patted lightly on the robot's metal side.

"Me too, Omega." Then she got an idea. "Oh! I know! Tails gave me a communicator in case something came up with them. Maybe I can call Shadow to check it out." She pulled out the small rectangular tablet from her hammerspace, then pushed random buttons until the iconic name "Shadow" flashed on the screen. Not a single answer from any of the attempts she made to call him. Amy even tried to call any of the others who were still out on their little escape from action did not reply.

Knuckles? Nope.

Silver? Nah.

Even Sonic and Rouge? Couldn't even bother.

"THEY ARE NOT ANSWERING MY COMMUNICATOR EITHER," the robot acknowledges. "I AM GROWING CONCERNED."

"I sure hope they're okay.." The pink hedgehog sighed, growing worried. "I hope Sonic's okay most of all. He DID keep a promise." 

💧💧💧💧💧

The ocean water was ever so murky, cold and uninviting as it was above the surface. The small group of five managed to convince the hydrophobic blue hedgehog to enter the water with the assistance of one other person. Shadow gripped hard onto Sonic's arm to keep him from sinking, much to the dismay of both hedgehogs. As the depth of the water increased, the primordial temple laid waste in elegant spectacle. It was now clearly to be built from a dark and stony sea foam material, large palace-esque towers spiraled up that looked over the temple itself. Overgrown strands of seaweed, massive coral fields and various aquatic flora grew around the area; it attracted many different Mobini animals like bottlenose dolphins, Angel fish, hammerhead sharks, and many others.

Sonic looked around; this was a big mistake in his part. He felt deja-vu once he stared deeper into the vast open water. His dreams mostly have been about the sea, and the strange and horrifying mysteries lying below the waves. He could feel his abdomen tighten and heart palpitations the deeper he swam. It was made worse considering the blue blur does not know how to swim. Sonic grew more terrified and impatient when the temple still looked to be miles away when they were swimming as fast as they could. Rouge--the Mobian leading the group--stopped diving in order to perform a quick headcount.

Everyone was here and appeared to all be doing well...until the bat felt a tug on her wing. She peered over and saw a massive spiraling current underneath her, swirling rapidly and grasping hard on her wing even when it was a couple hundred feet away from her. The bat panicked and eyed Knuckles to help her out. Unfortunately, the spiral was growing more and more powerful by the minute while Rouge was attempting get the others away from the submerged whirlpool. Sonic caught notice of all his friends being gradually sucked, so he does the "smart" thing and tries to drag himself away from the surface. It was deemed impossible not only because he can't swim, but he'll also have to drag along a very aggressive black hedgehog along with him.

'What are you doing, you idiot??' The black hedgehog partially mouthed, trying not to get water down his throat.

Shadow and Sonic could feel the power of the whirlpool grow in strength. The blue hedgehog screamed internally and tried harder to escape but the other hedgehog was pulling him along. The whirlpool finally got so strong and inescapable, the whole group was sucked in and spiraling into a giant gaping hole blown in on the side of the temple. They finally made it inside a long narrow tunnel but even with oxygen now present they could not tread through the strong currents whisking them away. Knuckles paddled his hardest to go against the rapid ocean waters but even he, the strongest, was struggling immensely.

Most of them screamed, like Sonic, Rouge, and Silver. The white hedgehog found a large spike hanging from the sealing and swam over to grasp onto it. Waves of water and ocean residue smacked him around but he resisted.

"Sonic! Rouge! Knuckles! Shadow! Someone, try to stay alive and grab onto me!!" Silver shouted, but no one called. He heard another's voice from ahead him. There was more splashing sounds and then came the familiar black-and-red body of Shadow barreling down in the water weightless as a feather. Then again, the black hedgehog was heavy enough to both destroy Silver's only support that prevented him from being swept away, and Silver himself. The two barreled into each other and then continued onward down the tunnel of the temple while bobbing for air.

"Watch!...It!" Shadow spouted between gulps of breath.

"I'm. Sorry. Can't. Control. Myself!" Silver replied. He was far too focused on getting as much air as he can.

Sonic was the one to have the least amount of "joy" out of any of the group. He gasped for breaths immediately each time he rose to the surface again, only to be engulfed under the water once again. Paddling and paddling, and rowing and rowing, but it was no use. His mind was racing faster than he could run with the words "don't die don't die don't die" clogging it. The eventful ride felt like it as dragging on for years, just swirling and churning down an infinite tube of death.

Then Sonic realized the silence.

His four other party members were all gone. He could no longer hear the screeching of Rouge when pulling on her wings, nor the growling and grunting of Shadow and/or Knuckles. It was just him and the relentless sounds of crashing, rapid ocean water. Up ahead did he also see the water now dropping off somewhere, like an underwater waterfall--which is naturally impossible. Now that was something Sonic hated even more than just water itself.

Falling off the edge of a gigantic waterfall into...more water. Or perhaps a large temple chasm in this case. And cue more panicking on Sonic's end. He yipped and began to fiercely stroke in the opposite direction in attempt to go against water traffic. However, water is known for being a very powerful element able to carve islands, being destructive rain storms and drown even the fastest swimmers on the planet (Sonic not being one of them). He was, in the end, dragged down the raging rapids and into the great unknown that awaited him on the other side.

The water threw him around the much more spacious area; he slammed into some large pillars, rolled across walls and countless corridors. Until finally, he fell from a great height, down into a massive room full of banners and walls, and landing face first on the floor in a deep puddle of sweat and excess water. Rouge and Silver beat him to it, followed by Shadow, who appeared very dead when he really was not, and finally Knuckles; the echidna was already on his feet and stumbling around to maintain balance. All of them were soaking wet and cold, but all were in very different moods. Rouge got up via her wings and glided over to her brooding partner who was on far side moaning. Silver got up much quicker.

Sonic coughed harshly, his mouth was shockingly dry for swaying around aimlessly in the ocean current for so long.

"G-God...s-sweet Chaos..." The red echidna wheezed. He saw Rouge and she helped him regain balance.

"I think I swallowed a full gallon of salt water," Silver groaned while getting on his knees. The black hedgehog coughed and rose up like he was resurrected from his watery grave.

"Now I can see why blue gumball over there hates this liquid so much," Rouge said, wiping droplets of water from her bangs. The blue hedgehog was up on his feet but was vigorously shaking from that whole ordeal. Knuckles went by to see if he got hurt at all from being thrown around so much by the current.

"Quite some ride, eh Sonic??" The red echidna joked so he could lighten the mood. The blue rodent, however, still shivered--probably because of how ice cold the water was. Knuckles gave his pal a very rough slap on the back; a little too rough for the hedgehog's liking. "Don't be so shaky. At least you're alive."

And as always, Knuckles did have a point. Apart from Sonic's apparent drenching wet quills and uncomfortably soggy socks and gloves, he was alive. And so was everyone else, thank Chaos. The hedgehog sighed in exhausted relief.

"Yeah...heh, that's what I was meaning to say," the hedgehog snickered brashly. He shook around all his fur until it felt remotely dry, stretched his legs, and looked around.

The temple stood looming both from the outside and now, to the inside. Various sized waterfalls flowed from large holes in the walls, the ceiling was dotted in colorful rocks and most of the inside of this strange vast room was untouched. Furniture that was soaking wet from the waterfalls but we're still intact after God knows how many years it's been. There were possibly thousands--or millions--of unscathed, untouched or overall unharmed objects that laid in just this single room. Decorative vases, shiny swords and shields, large spears, mountains of necklaces, colorful chests of jewels, full bookcases, and strange portraits of Mobians and Overlanders never seen before; this was just a fraction of the clutter that laid scattered around the room. The room itself has a golden and bronze-ish glow, tattered banners slowly moving in the air from the walls and countless rooms were scattered by hallways.

Everyone was shell shocked and in awe of what stood before them. Sonic's eyes practically beamed with amazement of what he was exactly looking at.

"Sweet Mobius..." He praised, distracted by all its beauty. "Wh...where are we?" He took time to stroke the fabric of a large war flag; it had a star-shaped pattern on it with a gigantic blue moon shining in the design's background. It must've been an age-old flag from an old village or society but somehow was resilient against the test of time itself. "It's so a-authentic! I've been all over the globe by now thanks to speed, but for the first time in my life, I've never seen anything like this...!" Sonic continued on to rummage through a pile of scrolls.

Knuckles and Silver were observing the banners and Shadow skimmed the bookshelves reading the different titles. "'The Griffin Empire's state of Structure and Geography', 'For Thy love of Angels and Demons'...'The Untold History and Backgrounds of the Echidna Leaders'??" The hedgehog huffed. "Hmph, and I thought I was old.."

"All of this stuff is so amazing!!" Silver gushed, his paws were full of ancient maps of Mobius (which were not so accurate today) and dusty old scrolls.

"The scrolls show so much information I've never seen before," Knuckles added, sharing his friends' amusement. "This is possibly the biggest discovery of untold riches and buried history in the entirety of Mobian kind!"

"Yeah yeah that's great and all, but the most important thing here is-..." Rouge inhaled deeply. "Look. At all. These GEMS!!!" The bat squealed like that of a small girl and tossed out many gems, jewels, jewelry and geodes into the air. There was so much that the bat found she was quite literally swimming in all of it. It was heaven.

"You sure we're all alive, Knuckie?? 'Cuz my gods, I'm feeling like Scrooge McDuck right now! Hot DAMN!"

The red echidna tossed away the gems Rouge so rudely flung right at his muzzle. "Yep. I am sure." Then came another pang erupting in his skull; the emerald was nearby.

"I assume the emerald is here?" Sonic scratched his muzzle.

"Not this room, specifically, but it seems to be located at a near distance from where we are now." Shadow scanned around the room, peering into the dozens of hallways dotting the walls. It appears the emerald will (or should be) locked away in one these endless amounts of hallways; that fact made the hedgehog growl.

"We are in the middle of a large maze, it seems," he frowned. "At this rate, any way we go, we might as well end up in a completely unrelated part of the temple, or return to this room."

Silver placed the scrolls on the floor. "Wait. Are you suggesting that we-"

"Split up??" Rouge interrupted. "Nuh uh, Hun! The last moment we went our separate ways, a massive robotic dragon attempted to end the world in Eggman's absence. We're not risking a disaster like that again."

"But do we even have a choice?" The red echidna testified, still gripping his skull. The bat's mouth opened but nothing came out. This was very true; it was either to get lost together or one group gets to the emerald first. They were sitting ducks but it won't be like that for long. Sonic thought up if a clever little idea and snapped his fingers.

"Heeeeey, I got an idea..." He grinned. "How 'bout we make this a little challenge?" He elbowed Shadow who shooed him away. However Shadow himself a little curious.

"How so?" He cocked an eyebrow.

"Wanna get your emerald quickly? Make it a racing game of course!" The blue hedgehog was grinning ear to ear. "At least...if ya got the guts to do it."

"Eh." The black hedgehog shrugged it off.

"Come oooooon, Shadz," the blue blur pouted. "It's been over a year since we had ourselves a friendly competiton. Let's have one-"

Knuckles unleashed a very agitated roar, stomping off into one of the hallways. "I've had enough of this. Ugh....lets get this hunt over with.." The red echidna was not in that better of mood considering his head was experiencing pains equivalent to getting stabbed in the skull with needles. The three hedgehogs showed visible confusion after the outburst.

"Okay, what exactly happened to 'no splitting up'??" Rouge groaned. She sighed, massaging the bridge of her snout. "WELL THEN! I guess we're doing THAT now..." Sonic looked down the halls; he played a little game of "eanie, meanie" around the large room, until his fingers pointed to a hall full with portraits of unrecognizable faces and some random plants.

"I really see no more point in staying here," Silver suggested. "Why don't we just go?" Three pairs of eyes peered into the bat's; she noticed them staring deeply which made her instinctually scoop handfuls of gems and stuff then in her pockets. She was sweating as well.

"What are you gentlemen looking at??" She huffed.

Sonic was growing impatient. "Do you really think we should just stand here and mope around, while Knuckles is probably halfway to the emerald by now?" He was now tapping his foot. Rouge took a minute of consideration about their whole situation. She DID want that emerald badly, evident from her excitement. However, Knuckles and Shadow were more wise about the situation and had much more knowledge of the emeralds than everyone else combined. She finally got to her conclusion and sighed, scratching her ears.

"Alright, Alright," she stood up from her pile of gems. She scanned the room evaluating a plan. "In this little pickle we're in currently, I'm gonna need to devise a plan on where we need to go--in order to cover more ground of maze. Firstly, you three should probably spread our amongst the three halls behind you-"

"Shadow already left," Silver pointed out.

"He---WHAT?!" Rouge gasped. Silver was right; Shaodw indeed had left, only a small cloud of chaos control particles was left behind. The bat had the urge to scream that damn hedgehog's name. "I'm gonna strangle him." She takes a deep breath. "But that's not important right now..."

"Want us to split up now?" Sonic coaxed. Rouge replied with a firm scratching to her eyes.

"Ugh....I guess so..."the bat surrendered.

"Just what I wanted to hear-TAG!!" Sonic playfully tapped Silver's shoulder when he was distracted by the scrolls he held, and the blue blur was already spinning down the hall. The grey hedgehog took to the aid immediately and gave chase.

"HEY! Come back here and let me win!!" Both hedgehogs were gone and Rouge was all alone in this room of treasures. Rouge couldn't help but sigh again, only it was much louder since the boys left.

"Men." She dusted herself off, stuffed some more gems into her small travel bag, and flew off into a hallway. The same hallway Knuckles wandered off to on his own. 

💧💧💧💧💧

The whale-sized submarine glided through the water as if it could fly. But this was no ordinary sub; it was inhabited by a pair of...somewhat intelligent robotic helpers and a powerful yet cowardly scientist. A circular red bot was scrambling with the buttons in front of him, it appeared he was tracking the submarine's current location and the surrounding area.

"Sir I'm detecting a large object approaching our destination," the red robot--named Orbot--said concerned. A large egg-shaped human with green tint goggles, a red and gold suit, and a glorious dirty-blond mustache hovered over his robot assistant scowling.

"Well go around it, while you're at it," the doctor groaned. "We have already rammed into multiple oceanic structures, and the Egg-marine is losing her natural shine."

"But sir, i-it's not like the others," Orbot argued submissively. "It appears to look like a..a-a building."

"Preposterous! Lemme see what's on the screen," the doctor demanded. The bot nodded, switching a lever to his right, and popping the newly recorded footage on the screen. The large structure, indeed, was a building-shaped thing and they were barreling towards it. Eggman--the name given to this doctor--had his eyes widen slightly whilst cleaning his goggles. Then he huffed.

"Follow my orders still, metal brains," the doc scoffed. "I don't want anymore damage done to my precious Eggmarine!" Orbot and the other robot, a yellow cube-shaped robot, pushed buttons and pulled levers to shift the speed and direction the submarine was traveling. However, the building was much bigger than it looked on the monitor. Eggman grew more impatient about his robot servants scrambling on the dashboard so they could simply scale the structure lying ahead.

"What are you doing, you pair of brain dead microwaves???" The doctor scrambled to his feet and stomped down from his observation quarters. He harshly grabbed one of his robots.

"I specifically told you to go AROUND the building, not over and up! You never listen when I give you the simplest of tasks!"

"But, Boss, we have a bit of an issue regarding that," the yellow robot--Cubot--chimed in.

"Oh WHAT NOW??" Eggman bellowed.

"We are currently approaching the structure at a very fast speed," Orbot answered. "We're approximately 12 meters away from it, and I suggest we-"

Cutting off the red robot was a massive thumping sound coming from outside the submarine, the three passengers went barreling around in the marine vehicle. It only lasted a short moment but the three finally stopped being thrown around and found each other wedged in areas in the shop that was not accessible before. Eggman spat out some of his blueprints and his robots were nowhere in his sight. That was until Orbot Rose out from the now destroyed dashboard of the Marine Egg.  
"I m-meant...to say ZERO meters away.." The red bot slowly spoke. He could see the flames of rage burning and spiraling up out of Eggman's nostrils just from what the bot said.

"YOU DAMN USELESS PIECE OF ROBOT GARBAGE!" The doctor grasped hard onto the robot's metallic neck. "Look at my poor Egg Submarine! Her paint is sure spoiled and her dashboard RUINED! Now you and Cubot are gonna get the same fate! COME HERE YOU INSUFFERABLE-" the doctor began shaking around the poor robot around.

"S-sir p..please be g-gentle..." The bot begged." R-remember y-your anger m...management sessions..."

Cubot emerged from a massive mountain of paperwork and smaller office supplies, as well as blown off parts of the dashboard. This took the attention away from Eggman strangling Orbot, who was relieved to see that he was spared this time.

"We made it!!" The cube-shaped robot playfully announced. He looked out the slightly cracked window and saw the mighty structure ahead of him, a lot more visible now than before. "Oh. Should I bring a welcoming gift?" The already enraged doctor slowly tilted his head over to the yellow bot. Orbot did the exact same thing.

"N O !!!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AJDUVISJDJNSJCEJENCKWJC FINALLY!! Another chapter has been posted!  
> Curse those damn midterms and getting food poisoning! UGH!
> 
> Annnywho, it is so good to be back on Archive again, even after being so busy this month. I hope you all enjoy this new chapter I've installed today cuz I'm not sure when chapter 4 will come out. One things for sure, it will take quite awhile for the next one.  
> But until then have a great day everyone!


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breaking News: morbidly obese Doctor creates robot that effects the plot. Gay animals not fully surprised by this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blood and vulgar language warning, so be warned!

It took quite the effort to get a fat scientist with stick-thin limbs off the ground but somehow, Eggman got to his feet quickly with aid from his two robots. The three cartoony baddies made their way down the ship and easy walked into the structure which was completely hollow from the Marine Egg's accident. Once entering this strange new structure the mad doctor and his two half-minded robots met a gigantic room full of countless treasures and lost artifacts of times of old. 

The same room Sonic and Co. we're just in. The mad Doctor cupped a tiny ancient medal into his glowed hands, observing the details and its many scratches and imperfections of the paint. 

"Well shred cheese over my chest and call me a spoiled omelette," Eggman marveled, then developed a greedy smirk across his face. "Just look at this marvelous trove of gems, old books, and miscellaneous treasure from across Mobius History!!! It is so glorious! So breathtaking!" He turned to his bots which were aimlessly standing beside him.

"CUBOT! Gather a few crates from inside the Eggmarine and load them with as much ancient treasure you can muster to hold!" 

The cube shaped robot blinked. "Like, now? I thought we had another plan-"

"Do as your told, or I'll RIP THAT EMPTY HEAD OF YOURS OFF YOUR DAMN NECK!!" Cubot whimpered from Eggman's violent outburst and sped off into the damaged submarine. 

The doctor stepped further into the titanic room of precious time-old valuables; then he turned to his other idiotic toaster servant "Orbot, come to me with our newest 'project'." 

"Yessir." The bot exchanged to his master a miniature white sphere dotted in tiny dark grey nuts and bolts; a golden orange streak was painted across the top. The doctor took ahold of this tiny orb and stroked it lovingly like it was his tiny pet. He followed by whiffing the air, then growled. 

"Hold on...I smell...-" he whiffed the air again. "Rats....and a bat." 

The spherical robot gasped. "Do you mean what I think you're trying to...think?" 

"Why of course," Eggman growled. "Sonic and his gang of children are here." He stroked the orb one again and laughed. 

"What a surprisingly GREAT turn of events!" The doctor placed the orb on the ground, but not before twisting a small mechanism on the top of it and clicking it with his thumb. 

There came a rumbling from this tiny orb, which began to tremble as if there was an earthquake. Somehow it grew larger minute by minute until it was nearly the height of the ancient treasure room. Mechanical arms controlled by wires and piping sprouted out of large holes to its sides, a tail spinning itself and a flat, ovulate head emerged from the center of his chest up into a neck tube. Twelve cobalt blue eyes shined from its metallic cranium. Even after this extremely epic, kinda cliché robot transformation, the gigantic robot creature stood completely dead still.

"Oh my OTHER precious, beautiful baby....." Eggman cooed, rubbing the robot's abdomen. "Daddy is so glad you made it. Yes I am, oh yes I am!" Somehow Eggman knew that Orbot was looking at him funny from behind, so he cleared his throat and paid all of his attention to his idiotic red worker.

"Can you take a guess to why I brought along Drag-droid-1.17?" The red robot thought hard whilst staring at the glory hunch was this Drag-droid thing that stood before him.

"Is it a special robot that is gonna raid the whole temple??" Cubot--who got out of the ship with boxes in both hands--rudely guessed.

"No, that's your job," Eggman groaned. "And you should be DOING SAID JOB RIGHT NOW!!" Cubot yipped and got right back to his assigned job. 

"Now you can guess, without anymore DISTRACTIONS!" The red robot took a much longer look, peering at its features and mechanisms.

Then Orbot sighed in what seemed to be a very bored tone. "Is it another attempt at catching Sonic the Hedgehog, your longest lasting and most hated rival?" 

"Why yes," the doctor gasped. "I appreciate your intelligence of my newest creation, despite that not so appreciated tone of yours." He fidgeted with the massive robot for a few minutes, Orbot literally and figuratively hovering over him. 

"I do believe it might be a good time to...uh, try some new schemes or even new plans. A better breath of fresh air rather than choking on the polluted air that are your older failed experiments." The red robot's words made the doctor stop all tinkering on his Dragon-android and tilt his head over.

"...What are you saying?" The doctor narrowed his eyes. 

Orbot cleared his throat. "What I am saying is that...how about some ideas from others, not just from you or a machine that picks cards for you." 

"That's not gonna work," Cubot chimed in again. "I suggested that you and I should get married but he rejected. 'Guess robot marriages are illegal in these times."

"Oh hush up!" Orbot shushed. 

Eggman groaned under his breath while tinkering more with his 'baby'. "I....I SUPPOSE I could give you your word and find others to give me scheme ideas. For once." 

"W-Why...th-thank you sir." Orbot replied baffled. 

"BUT ONLY ONCE!!" Eggman roared in response. The red robot flinched and floated on off to leave the doctor to his strange new scheme. He took time peering into the Drag-Droid's internal wiring, utilizing his handy wrench. After a couple minutes, he steps off his creation's shoulder and meets with Cubot with his hands full of treasure-filled cargo boxes. Despite being made of metal, he looked exhausted and ready to pop his bolts.

"Can I...take a...minute....now, sir??" He panted. The doctor hesitated; he was merely doing so just to watch his cubic servant suffer from unbearable weight.

"Yes..." The doctor reluctantly answered. The robot responded by immediately collapsing on the floor and dragging himself back to the ship. Eggman then turned his attention back to the Drag-Droid, pulling out a remote control seemingly out of nowhere. 

"Considering the Blue Blur and his ragtag group of talking furries are here, perhaps they are here for a reason," he spoke to himself, stroking his mustache. "And I bet is has something to do with a certain colorful gem. Got forth, my baby, and SLAUGHTER THEM!!!" 

He pushed one of the bigger buttons on his remote, and his robot sprung to life. Its eyes flickered and several markings running down its sides illuminated in a bright red color. It screeched a metallic roar, scanning the many rooms encircling the group and roared once more before choosing its new path of choice. The beats was so large it tore through the walls as if it were made of paper. Orbot and Cubot both watched in terrified confusion about the lumbering weapon. Eggman only laughed proudly before entering the still destroyed Marine Egg to further go on with his plan.

💧💧💧💧💧

*About an hour ago*

Sonic dashed in a furious hurry down the hall in pursuit of the flying time traveler Silver. He looked all over and even above where the ceiling lay, but no success in finding the tall lanky hedgehog. The blue blur let out a frustrated scream. 

"C'mon Silver! Even CHARMY doesn't play around for this long," he groaned, still smirking. "Might as well give up and reveal your word now." The hedgehog got an idea and pretended to collapse onto the floor in fake exhaustion. 

"Ooooh boy. My legs sure are tired; it feels like their broken. Oh, would someone hear my woes and come to my aid..?" He perked his ears in order to detect any possible movement. 

Nothing.

"God, Sonic, that was awful," the hedgehog cringed. 

A sudden violent tremor came out of the blue and shook the whole temple like it was a stack of Jenga blocks. Sonic swore he heard an equally loud explosion coming from yards away. Then came the feeling of something cracking underneath him; the floor was breaking apart by many pieces. 

Now it was a perfect time to move.

The blue hedgehog swiftly got to his feet and dashed away after than he probably ever had in full adrenaline danger. More and more of the ground crumbled per step he took across this hall. Small rocks flew from the cracking walls forcing the hedgehog try to dodge every singular one that fell to his direction. There up ahead was a small light grey spot moving in a ball of cyan light at immense speed. The closer it came, the more it resembled a familiar telekinesis wielding hedgehog.

Sonic skidded to a grinding halt. "Silver! Where were you-"

"RUN!!" The light grey hedgehog cried out. Behind him a massive wall of the temple crumbled and was reaching up to him, like an avalanche of rocks and other debris. The blue hedgehog gasped and ran the other way; however, there was a small problem for both hedgehogs.

Both sides were blocked by collapsing walls.

"Silver! What's happening?! Why aren't ya using your powers to prevent us gettin' squashed?!" the Blue Blur clearly had a lot of stress and even more questions to ask. 

"A: don't know," Silver spoke quickly. And B: if I WERE to attempt using my powers, we'd risk an even worse collapsing of the temple's walls and we would possibly get caved in!" 

"Well, just do something! We're on a time limit here!!" The blue hero stressed, vigorously shaking the white hedgehog's shoulders. Silver harshly swatted them off him. 

"I can't," the hedgehog repeated. "Do you WANT us to be suffocated?!" 

"NO! I JUST DON'T WANT US TO STAND AROUND LIKE LIFELESS OBJECTS THAT WANT TO GET BRUTALLY KILLED!!!" Sonic grew more and more stressed with his current situation; the walls kept on crumbling towards them, his foot was tapping and even his teeth were bared in an animalistic way.

"For the last time Sonic, I can't and I won't!" 

And then it all stopped. 

The rocks of the walks around them skidded to a stop in motion; the air around the caved-in hall filled with an uncomfortable tension. All became still and quiet, a little too quiet. Sonic AND Silver were both dumbfounded. 

No way.

"...Silver...how-" Sonic gasped. "Did you do this?"

The light grey hedgehog shook his head. "Nope. I'm guessing the quake ended and now we're safe. Also, why would you think it's me? If I were using my powers, the rocks would be floatin' around." 

"I was in a funk, okay?? This place is unstable as all and its givin' me-" the floor beneath him suddenly gave out and cracked, to which followed a long plummet.

"-AAAAAAAH!" The white hedgehog had a very delayed reaction to the strange turn of events, he looks down to see the whole. 

"...Sonic?" And like it was a trigger, the rest of the floor and the spake easy sunken walls crumbled, shifted the halls, and fell into itself; it created a massive hole yards walls, and the white hedgehog instinctively levitated towards the ceiling to avoid the disaster.

"SONIC!" Silver screamed; he boosted via his telekinesis and levitated quickly down into the gaping hole. The blue blur was waving his arms around in attempt cling onto the walls. 

"Shit shit shit shit...." He kept on repeating to himself the more his claws got stick in the rubble. He looked up to see Silver approaching him at immense speeds. 

"Silver! Thank Chaos!!" And with that, Silver grabbed a hold of the falling hedgehog and pulled him up. 

"Urgh...gotcha!" The white hedgehog exclaimed. "D-Don't want Amy to murder me.." The debris just kept on falling down into the hole, the white hedgehog evaded each piece left-and-right while also carrying his surprisingly heavy friend by the wrists. It was becoming rather draining.

"Whatcha waitin' for Silv??" Sonic asked. "Let's get out of here!" 

"Can't...my powers..." Silver panted. The blue blur instantly remembered. 

Despite having amazing powers, the poor guy had his own limits with said powers. And judging by the long burst he had to save Sonic's ass, Silver is running low on energy to simply get them up. The hedgehogs were lowering into the endless hole by the second, and there was really no where to go. 

But then Sonic saw an advantage.

A gigantic spire from the large room had fallen down and made itself visible in the endlessly deep hole. It looked strong enough for the two of them to land on and think up an escape. The blue hero observed the large gap I hold the two were levitating in, looked to Silver, and then back to the room.

"W-well..?" Silver pestered between breaths. 

"Sink down into the hole, right into the pillar, down there," Sonic answered pointing to the large stone structure's remains below. Silver only had a small pinch of energy to turn his head around and look at his buddy with an expression of disapproving shock. 

"A-Are you...crazy?!" Silver shouted. "If we go...down there...we probably won't...are you fu-" 

Sonic growled. "You got any other escape ideas?" Silver laid silent. "No? That's what I thought!" The blue blur then attempted to climb out of Silver's arms and push Silver down by the area in between his shoulder blades and neck. 

"W-what..-" the white hedgehog mustered out, his energy was going to a dangerous low. 

"You'll kill BOTH of us if you push your limits any further," Sonic begged. He kept on pushing on Silver's weakening muscles, but somehow he still remained in the sky. 

"Go down. Save yourself. Please.." The blue hedgehog was pleading at this point, worried immensely for their lives. Silver shivered as he looked below, into the deep, dark, infinitely empty abyss below where he struggled to stay levitating. He could then hear the sloshing and splashing of ocean water. He turned to see Sonic who looks near the verge of either tears or about to tear his head off. The white hedgehog took a long breath and finally began lowering onto the pillar half submerged in the darkness.

They landed with a thud, but more so for Silver he laid on the floor panting heavily. Sonic was by his side to check on him, but the time traveler only swatted him away due to lack of personal space.

"Sonic...don't suffocate me, I'm okay," Silver moaned. "Now...what did you...want to do next..?" Sonic rose up from his knees; he noticed how some of the debris were scattered about the hole in an orderly fashion, kind of like a crumbling bridge. A bridge high and mighty enough to maybe run up while dodging continuously falling rocks and get safely to the surface. 

And what about Silver? Eh, if he got down here safely, he'll be perfectly fine getting back up. 

"I'm gonna attempt a sprint across those fallen pillars and climb ALL the way up the side of the wall," Sonic explained. "Once I get up there, you will probably have enough energy to join me via teleportation." 

The white hedgehog stared at his friend in a tense, awkward silence. 

"...you baffle me sometimes, Sonic." He breathed. "But I'll take your plan into consideration. Go on." 

Sonic saw this as an 'okay', getting into a running position and instantly dashing off the pillar and into the air. He dashed his way onto the crumbling row of other pillars almost flawlessly; he was close to falling into the water but luckily he had enough upper strength to grab onto the rim. He survived the climb by the tips of his fingers, and decided on giving Silver a little cheesy thumbs up to show his progress. 

It is unsure what the white hedgehog was doing at the distance, but Sonic thought his friend gave him a little thumbs up in return and went on further. 

"DON'T DIE!!" Silver's shout echoed. 

The others have to be doing better right now. Right?

💧💧💧💧💧

Meanwhile in another side of the massive temple, Shadow was a NOT having as much luck as the others were. 

AT ALL. 

He found himself preoccupied with skating around the long crumbling hallway and dodging falling debris, rocks, and other miscellaneous nonsense for the past hour. In fact, some would argue the black alien-hedgehog was so "excited" to finally get an emerald back in his possession so he could skip this BULLSHIT and teleport wherever he pleases. He cared not for these silly games, but at the same time, it did give him the excuse to compete with his long friendly rival. And another of his rivals, if one counted Knuckles. 

Shadow's ears perked to one side when he realized he had survived the wall of crumbling death and all was quiet. His jet-skate boots skidded to the end, and he swiveled his body around. 

"Finally," he mumbled in annoyance. "This should be much easier to navigate now that I am-" he turns and comes face-you-face with three separate halls jutting out in different directions. 

Shadow growled once again. "-in a middle of a seemingly endless maze of shitty stone. GREAT. JUST what I needed." Mentally imagining a small game of 'eenie-meanie', he chose the hall going to the right and bounded down. The hall looked...exactly the same. 

However the exceptions were the hallway was much wider (thank Chaos), the walls and floor were not crumbling with every step the hedgehog took, and some weird clutter sprawled all across the floor. Now this got Shadow curious. He bent down on one knee once he strode farther into the hall and could see better as a result. And in just a minute if inspecting the clutter, Shadow's muzzle wrinkled in distaste. There laid in front of him was a collection of blood-stained bones, a Mobian's skull--which looked nothing like others seen before--and a small firearms next to it. But Shadow was not disgusted by the array of dead animal bones littering the floor, he was more so with the presence of a gun.  
A gun that didn't belong here whatsoever. 

Shadow hesitantly scooped up the gun and trying to avoid touching the clearly diseased carnage and examined it. It was a tiny, outdated pistol with its own little puddle of blood splattered on it. And just as suspected, it has the logo of GUN imprinted on the side. 

"...odd." Is all Shadow said, he felt nauseous. 

After the whole incident with his amnesia and getting brainwashed by his father Black Doom so many years ago, he vowed to never use a single weapon other than his chaos energy again. And for a good reason, too, considering it gave him a bad taste of horrible memories. He placed in hammer-space just in case and continued on his merry way. However, he was constantly interrupted by his heavy rocket boots cracking and crumbling more bones in the hallway. He could see other others rather than guns set against walls or even arrows and daggers stuck in the ceiling and floor. He titled his head to see a fascinating red substance encircling a hieroglyph-like picture on the wall. Upon closer inspection, it was blood surrounding a picture of a gigantic white creature with wavy spines, a malnourished body, and beady eyes. Some easy to read text alongside text of another language were engraved underneath the illustration.

The largest of the text had a title written:

"'Thou hast stared upon the King of Nightmares,'" Shadow read aloud. "Fascinating...but why the blood encircling him?" 

Suddenly, Shadow felt a vibration coming from within the hammer-space. He turned to find that this tiny device was vibrating as if it could feel the frigidness of the temple. Ah, THAT'S RIGHT. Before departure, Amy and Tails gave everyone else in the small crew a tiny hologram trinket communication compared to Sonic's 'iPad' thing. Shadow had completely forgotten about it, and now he has a reason to look into it. The small device spouted a visible blue projection of two familiar characters. 

Amy was in the front and most noticeable while Tails was on a separate screen and in the blurrier back. It appeared both were in separate areas but could still communicate with each other. 

"You sure this'll work, Tails?" Amy asked harmlessly. The fox--though staticky from the other side--the the face of someone who had repeated their words for the past 7 times.

"YES. I'm SURE Sonic will answer," Tails sighed. "These things ARE temperamental."

"Geez. I do believe both of you need some glasses." Shadow snickered. The two other Mobians immediately gasped at the sound of Shadow's deep yet comforting voice. 

"Shadow?!" The fox exclaimed. 

"Where have you been this entire time?!" Amy shouted. "You didn't call us back whenever we rang for you!"

"None of you answered back for 6 whole days!" Tails added.

"We were all worried sick back at the base!" 

Shadow sighed both in frustration and in relief? It is hard to tell. "Yeah yeah. I get it, I haven't answered in almost a week. BUT all I did was forget this little brick studded with wires in that strange hammer space APPARENTLY all of us have. Don't get so worried, okay?" 

"You...do make a good point, Shadow," the pink hedgehog scratched her ear. "But still we have a RIGHT to be worried for you! Plus, what was that you said about-"

"I WILL TAKE IT FROM HERE." A booming robotic noise--noticeable for being Omega--lowered one of his massive hands and snatched the communicator from Amy. The hedgehog obviously did not stand this and scrambled to get it away from him.

"H-HEY! Omega! Give it back!" Amy yelled at Omega, her voice sounding like a demanding younger sister. 

"SHADOW. I HAVE NOT SEEN YOU IN SO LONG." Omega chirped.

"Omega," Shadow sighed and smirked. "It is good to see you."

"IT HAS BEEN BORING WITHOUT YOU AND ROUGE BY MY SIDE WRECKING BADNIKS." The robot's sensors beeped in what sounded like sadness and boredom. 

"I know Omega, I miss you, too," the black hedgehog chuckled. "Is Amy treating you good?" He took a gander in the location they were in, despite it all being mainly a hologram. Before either Amy or Omega could speak, Shadow spoke out. 

"W-what the-Where are you guys?? How are you in the desert??"

"We were gonna ask you the same question," Tails groaned. 

"Simple: we're treasure hunting for emeralds," Shadow immediately covered his mouth.

"EMERALDS?!" Tails' voice rose, making the hologram glitch.

"Like, as in 'chaos emeralds'??" The pink hedgehog added.

"YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING FUN WITHOUT ME? I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED." Omega huffed. 

"It's not fun per say.." The black hedgehog explained. "It's just I didn't want to sit through another one of Big Knux's temper tantrums-"

Shadow's ears perked up all of a sudden when he heard a distant thump followed by a small "oof" afterwards. He stared down the hall ahead of him, long and narrow and dark; it appeared even darker than his own fur color. The others were bickering to one other while Shadow continued to stare into the abyss like a deer to headlights. 

"-Maybe Shadow is right about you needing glasses," Amy criticized. "You HAVE been messing up the ones you're trying to contact using this junk of yours." 

"For your information, my communicators are still being tested THANK YOU VERY MUCH," Tails hissed back. "Besides, I do NOT need any glasses at my age! I'm only 8 for Chaos' sake. Sh-Shadow what do you think??" 

Shadow hesitated. "Ummmmmm..I'll call you back." 

"What?!" Tails and Amy simultaneously yelled.

"YOU CAN'T." Omega fretted. 

"Sorry guys. Gotta go do....secret stuff." Shadow moved his finger over the end call button in the bottom of the device.

"Shadow w-wait! Don't go! D-Don't make me-" it was too late for the fox to continue; Shadow had already hung up and bounded into the hall. 

He was met with more separated hallways and hoards of coins and jewels scattered on the floor. There were still skulls and bloodied bones on the floor, however not as much quantity as there were in the other rooms. It looked all the same to Shadow, except for the elephant in the room.

There was someone else occupying this hall. 

The other entity was concealed in a hooded robe and continuously scooping up mounds of treasure while on their knees. They huffed and appeared to be in a hurry. Shadow wondered where they needed to go or why they were acting this frantic. He moved silently towards them in attempt to ask them a question. 

And then he felt it. The hedgehog felt a pang of chaotic energy surge in his veins, and he stepped back gaining the attention of the hooded figure. They gasped whilst clutching a small yellow gem in their claws. A chaos emerald. 

Wait a second. A Chaos Emerald? 

There are two?!!

Well actually, with how bad Knuckles' headache was earlier, it made sense there would be more than just one in the area. The figure got to their feet and was visibly shaking in fear.

"Hey," Shadow firmly said, but also trying to stay calm. "You have something I need." He points to the glowing jewel in the figure's arms. Rather than giving up the gem willingly, the person made a run for it and dashed down one of the halls. Shadow saw this very impolite and chased after the thief. The hooded individual was much taller than Shadow, taller than any Mobian he's seen but not near the height of Eggman. They looked over their shoulder and blew out a small fire ball from their mouth. 

Wait, what?! Since he did a Mobian be able to breathe fire? Unless...nah.

Shadow gained up to them quicker even with the challenge of dodging small fireballs while doing so. However he didn't have to much to catch up, because almost halfway through the hallway, the sunny out figure tripped over what was their long feathered tail and hitting the cold floor. The Emerald slid out of their grasp and skidded on the floor until it was at Shadow's feet. 

Finally, the black hedgehog could feel the emerald's energy surge once clutching it in his claws. He summoned one chaos spear under his breath and pointed it at the hooded figure who was visibly shaking. 

"Where did you get this?" Shadow coldly asked. Out of the blue, the figure revealed a portion of their face from their hood. 

It was just what Shadow thought they were. The once masked individual was revealed (just by their face only) to be a female dragon Mobian. The exception was that she was covered in feathers; she was a dragon that no creature like Shadow had ever seen. What mesmerized the black hedgehog most out of all the dragon's facial features was her eyes. They were dark blue- colored with sharp black pupils like a snake's. They were like small orbs of water, or better yet an entire ocean. 

They were Maria's eyes. 

Shadow lowered his recently summoned spear, letting it disintegrate on the floor, and then rising from his hovering position over the woman. She was still shaking like a tree in a hurricane and whimpered while looking at the edgy hedgehog. 

"H-Hey." Shadow finally spoke. He lend a hand to the young lady; he took a very deep breath and stood tall against the girl. 

"I need you to take my hand and rise up from the ground. I need to....ask you a few questions regarding this gem you got." He forced a calm smile onto his face. "I won't harm you. I promise."

The girl dragon looked towards Shadow's hand then to his face. She got up to her knees while grabbing onto the hedgehog's hands. But just as she regained balance on her feet, she muttered a quiet "sorry" much to Shadow's confusion, and then proceeded to knock Shadow onto the floor using her massive feathered tail, blowing smoke into his face and dashed down the hall while the hedgehog was still down. 

When Shadow got to his feet the strange dragon lady was already headed for the hills. He growled, furiously scratching at his watering eyes full of dusty smoke. 

"Peace was never an option," he huffed and continued on pursuit of the thief.

💧💧💧💧💧

"AGH! FUCK!!!" 

Rouge and Knuckles were partially caved in inside another large room full of even more hallways. The echidna was punching his way through the piles upon piles of rubble while the bat's left wing was caught under a large rock. 

"Stupid crumbling walls," Rouge fussed under her breath. "Stupid crumbling towers. Stupid crumbling temple with extremely gorgeous gems and jewels." She wiggled enough for her wing to finally be released under the large rock so she can stroke it affectionately. 

"Could you keep it down next time," Knuckles groaned, massaging his temple. "This headache ain't going away anytime soon." 

"Well I'm sorry," she rolled her eyes. "But SOME of us have extra things on our backs that can hurt if damaged!" 

After a few minutes of digging out and navigating the room, the pair of Mobians finally found the way out and proceeded on their treasure. 

"Oh sure. So people like ME can't feel pain," Knuckles grumbled. "Sure. I don't feel anything in my SKULL AT ALL. WOW! Thank you SOOO MUCH-" 

"Knuckles, I was just saying," Rouge said, her ears perked back. She flew closer to the hot tempered echidna. 

"You've been acting strange this entire trip. You were perfectly fine before departure; what's happening to you??" Knuckles stared at the bats with her arms crossed, and then looked down at the floor still moving.

"What's it do ya?" Knuckles mumbled. 

"Weeeelll, considering none of your close pals are here with you, I'm really the next best thing to talk to." She hovered closer even with Knuckles picking up his pace. The echidna stood still and crashed onto the floor, his back against one of the walls. 

"I dunno, Rouge," he rubbed his head. "I've just been so all over the place lately. Even when we were still on dry land and not out on this vacation, I've always felt these weird feelings of anger and sadness. The headache only just heightens the emotions." The bat sat down next to him and listened intently. 

"Erratic emotions?" Rouge cocked her head. 

"Not only that, I would just feel extremely......attracted towards people. Like, not in a sense of literally being attacked to things like magnets; more like....what's the word...?" 

"Say no more, Knuckie," Rouge hastily replied, fluttering in the air. "I know what EXACTLY what you have, and it's called 'being a teenager syndrome'!" 

"....excuse me?" Knuckles squinted. "'Being a teenager syndrome', huh? It would've been simpler as to calling it hormones." 

"I have a flare for the dramatic, sweetie~" Rouge chuckled, making the red echidna roll his eyes and scoff. "Besides, in MY opinion, I think calling it being a teenager is much more appropriate because, well, DUH! You ARE a teenager!" 

The red echidna didn't speak afterwards. 

"Can we just go find the Emerald, and we can talk about this when we're in a better position..." 

"Alrighty then..." Rouge, in great disappointment, answered. Knuckles arose to his feet, nodding at the response, and walked further down into the hall while Rouge followed behind like a dog to their owner. 

The bat chuckled a little while behind. "Soooooooo. Attracted to someone aren'tcha?" She nudged the shorter Mobian's shoulder and he retaliated by swatting her away. "You got eyes for Sonic ooooooor that, uh, Julie-Su character?" 

"Whoa whoa whoa," Knuckles halted the bat, chuckling. "Sonic? Hell nah. But Julie-Su...how the hell did you know we had a thing for one another? Or at least, in my perspective." 

Rouge responded in laughter. "Oh please, Knuckie!" She chuckled. "I know true love when I see it, and YOU, red boy, are crawling with it!! Nearly everyone I know, with the exception of me and Tails have a least one person on their minds!" 

"Says the girl who's been crushing on that swallow woman for 2 1/2 years," Knuckles muttered. "Wasn't her name...like, Wave-" the echidna rudely interrupted by Rouge's ginormous hands covering his snout and mouth. 

"Just because I reveal your secret love life doesn't me you should to me," she growled, but she overall ended up laughing. While bickering more the longer they walked, they both heard the rumbling presence of a massive metallic roar bounce inside the temple. The noise was followed by booming footsteps and a maniacal laugh. The two Mobians looked at each other in disbelief.

"Please tell me that as just Shadow..." Rouge wheezed, her ears perked back. 

"Even on his worst days," the red echidna answered. "He wouldn't be this monstrous sounding." 

The two did not notice until looking ahead of them did they stumble face-to-face with a massive room similar to the one near the beginning where the group ones was. It was decked out with far more treasure, golden coins and other gems and jewels flooding the entirety of the tomb. It was much more attractive looking with all that sweet, succulent treasure, to Rouge at least. 

"Well, this looks promising." 

💧💧💧💧

There was only a little more Sonic could travel until the entire sinkhole of rubble and debris. There was finally light at the end of the tunnel when he finally can see the edge where the hole ended. However he fretted mostly about how Silver will come to escape this mess. But he had not much time to think about that; he had more structures to jump across. 

He spin-dashed higher and higher, unfortunately he was growing tired. This was odd, considering he rarely skips running times. But no matter; he saw the ledge, just out of arm's reach! Finally, they were gonna escape. They were gonna survive! 

Out of blue, however, he ducked down when he spotted a massive dragon-like machine lumber its way down the hallway. A large round man skipped behind with a huge grin on his face underneath that magnificent mustache. 

Eggman. 

Sonic bared his teeth and only climbed up the side of the wall faster. And up just when things started to die down a little more, at the top of the ledge, the blue blur could see Shadow participating in a high speed chase with a taller figure. The black hedgehog stopped in his tracks once he saw one of Sonic's signature quills sticking up above the ledge. 

"Sonic?" The hedgehog hesitated, confused by the faker's current condition.

"Sha-Shadow! Could you b-be a good guy and-" while Shadow stared at the blur hedgehog in confusion, the ground he held onto crumbled under his grasp causing him to fall backwards and back into the sinkhole. 

"SAVE ME!!" Sonic felt two strong and tense hands grip onto his, avoiding his fall. Shadow, retaining his cool and stoic expression, pulled him up slowly until the faker could finally get back to his last position. 

"Gotcha, you little blue nuisance," the hedgehog huffed but smiled. However Shadow, too, was slipping in his grip. It was almost inevitable that both would fall into the hole, and because of the lack of an emerald he lost, he wouldn't save themselves from death. 

That was when a cyan blue aura pulled Shadow backwards and lifting Sonic up from both of their dangerous positions. At last, Silver was back to full energy and burst up from the hole. The three met together after what seemed like hours back in the temple's entrance. 

"Shadz, Silv, thanks," the blue hedgehog sighed in relief and wrapped his arms around both of the other hedgies. Shadow rolled his eyes and scoffed while Silver only snickered nervously, until he eventfully shoved the blue blur's arm off him. 

Their little reunion of sorts was interrupted briefly by the sounds of a scuffle behind them. Upon listening more closely, the three hedgehogs entered to find themselves in a much bigger room than the one earlier. It was filled to the brim with treasures and old artifacts beyond the eye can see. However the more eye catching in the room was the struggle between Eggman and the hooded figure Shadow was chasing earlier for possession of the emerald. Knuckles was occupied with fighting the massive robotic dragon, both swinging their limbs at one another. And lastly, Rouge was on top of the highest looking coin and gem pile appearing to be grabbing something. 

It looked like a large jewel, except it was a brilliant yet dull white. It was in fact the second Chaos Emerald in all its glory placed am most perfectly on the top of the pile. 

"Almost-" Rouge grunted, climbed the pile while ignoring the fact she had wings the entire time. She was caught off guard by the hooded indivisible tripod over her, spilling both emeralds on opposite sides of the treasure room. The bat groaned in annoyance and slid down to try grabbing one of their. Eggman tilted his head over to see the three hedgehogs sneaking into the room and in search of one of two emeralds. 

"Well well well," the mustached man cackled. Sonic turns and scowls at him baring his teeth. "You five are awfully preoccupied in this little wreckage of an ancient ziggurat. Lemme guess? Treasure hunting to bond?? How cute~"

"And let ME guess, hard boiled," the blue hedgehog sassed back. "Came here to exact revenge and trying to kill us for the emeralds? So adorable it's almost funny~" 

"It takes two to sass, hedgehog," Eggman huffed; he floated up and snapped his fingers. 

"Drag-Droid! Squish the damn furry bug and find those emeralds!!" The monstrous dragon robot heard his creator's command, slapping the echidna away using its tail and sprinting towards the hedgehog. Sonic responded by dashing faster to the side, but the beast was still in pursuit of him. The hooded person below ran the other way to avoid being squished themselves, and Rouge--after gathering some more trinkets--flew over quickly to check on Knuckles. 

The red echidna's back and underarms were brushed and a small stream of blood came from his lips. He spat out one canine tooth, Rouge hissing in disgust. 

"You okay, bat?" The echidna asked dazed.

"I should be asking you that!" Rouge exclaimed. She spotted Shadow trying to catch up to Eggman and the hooded individual simultaneously and Sonic was busy with outrunning the monster robot. The taller hedgehog Silver levitated over to check on the two downed Mobians. 

"I have an idea!" The white hedgehog proclaimed. "But most importantly, are you up for it, you two?" 

Knuckles looked over to see his good buddy trying to confuse the robot via running aimlessly around the room while trying to avoid running into Eggman and/or Shadow fighting over an emerald. The blue hedgehog looked to be getting either very bored or very tired. 

"The people I considered as friends are in danger but we could possibly get extremely hurt in the process," Knuckles cracked his fists and held a confident smile. "Let's bring Eggman to his knees."

"Count me in too, sweetums~" Rouge added. Silver commanded that he and a Rouge would try to disorientate the beast while Knuckles could assist Sonic in his little goose chase to nowhere. The blue hedgehog, though fully attentive in the chase after himself, made an attempt to mock the mad doctor who was also very distracted.

"I'm surprised Eggman," he gawked. "You actually put an effort into creating an invention of yours whose name doesn't have the word 'egg' in it. Color me surprised." 

"Despite my name clearly being Eggman, I, too grow bored of egg puns here and there." Eggman saw the perfect moment to strike. In words that is. "Took you long enough to figure that out, but not fugue out my beast can still use its tail during chases." 

Sonic felt a hard piece of metal slam onto him and causing him to face plant into the rough coin-covered floor. Luckily the blue blur got up almost instantly, however enough time for the beast to try a more graphic approach and split the hedgehog apart using lasers in its palms. 

Lasers? How predictable yet still surprising, Sonic scoffed but moved quickly to avoid the barrage of lasers. Suddenly, Drag-Droid's body glowed a cyan blue aura and Silver was seen overhead using his mighty strength to push the robot aside; it gave Sonic enough time to escape being zapped and grab the other emerald. 

"Took you long enough to plan an attack, Silv," Sonic laughed. 

Knuckles joined by Sonic, hitting hard blows into the robot's legs. "And miss out on a fight like this? Hell no!" Above Rouge was seen confusing the robot by throwing some collected treasure into its face. It found this very disruptive and quite rude, flailing its tail around.

"Tighty Whities! Try to use those floating powers of yours and smash it!" Rouge called hastily, right when a massive white laser rose and fired from the maw of the metallic dragon. "Like, NOW!" 

"Lemme get a good shot!" The white hedgehog hovered high to the very limits of the room, scavenging for large enough objects to hit Drag-Droid with. Unfortunately, Eggman would not stand at the sidelines this time, floating up in his vehicle and attempting to wrestle Silver away from the wreckage. 

"You're not getting away with killing MY BABY!" The mustached doctor roared. He stood at the edge of his vehicle and tried to stretch out his filthy mitts and grab Silver. This wasn't smart at all, because the hedgehog could easily float from him. Though Eggman still could grab knit the hedgehog's legs and try to pull him away. 

"H-Hey!" Silver began kicking his legs to get theft doctor away from him and his job. "Get away from me!" He finally kicked the man away from him causing Eggman to crash right back in this vehicle. 

"Gah! I swear you little gremlins have gotten more vulgar as the years went on!" The doctor and his flying machine were rocked by Shadow who had just snatched the emerald from the strange dragon lady. 

"That's because we're growing tired of your bullshit, doctor." He growled. 

"OOOOOOOOHHHH!" Rouge exclaimed whilst dragging the dragon robot's attention to her. 

It swung its tail around like a massive whip among the others in the room. Shadow and Knuckles were in charge of hitting the beast down below at its heels while Rouge still tried to land some hits on its eyes, nose, and neck. After that little confrontation, the levitating Silver grabbed ahold of some rubble in his telekinesis and dive bombed Dragon-Droid with it, bombarding it. 

The metallic monster only grew even more frustrated per attack dealt to it. It swung its entire Boyd around in agony, the tail and face broke holes in the temple and cold salt water began seeping in in small waterfalls. 

"Eggman! Get that thing to stop breaking this stuff!" Knuckles demanded. 

"I will not tell my baby to stop doing the right thing," Eggman replied, waving his fist angrily. 

Silver flew around the room with help of Rouge to get the beast exhausted enough to stop destroying the room and cave in. The blue blur was having a rough time on the ground however, when he found out eventually that his and Knuckles' attacks were doing little to no damage to the robot. That, and both Mobians were growing more tired by the minute. The dragon lady now gave up on getting the Emerald back and was hastily grabbing random trinkets and looking for a way out of this hell forsaken battle. The monster--dazed by the distraction up in the air--was inches away from crushing the Mobian dragon under its gigantic foot. Luckily in the nick of time, the edgy hedgehog spotted the upcoming disaster and dived towards her, using his strength to push her away and taking the place. 

"Shadow!" Rouge saw from above and shouted. "Are you o-" Two large horns on Drag-Droid sliced in the air and getting a huge scratch across Rouge's back. The bat let out a muffled screech and plummeted to the floor, landing on the large pile of treasures. Just as that happened Shadow emerged from beneath the dragon's iron grasp and looked to find his pal on the floor unconscious and badly wounded. 

"ROUGE!" He roared, his eyes turned to the attention of Eggman. The scooter gulped when he stares back at a clearly shaken and extremely pissed hedgehog. Knuckles also showed to be beyond angry with the doctor, readying his fists for the punch of his life. 

From afar, the dragon looked upon the chaos that had ensued. All because of her being greedy for valuables. She couldn't just stay around and be a damsel in distress nor useless baggage. With a deep huff, she burst out a large flame up into the air, throwing Eggman off balance and burning part of his outfit. The others took note of this, feeling relief. 

"Hey! They're on our side now!" Sonic cheered. He ran past her while still being chased. "Nice job, kid! Keep it up!" The dragon felt a little better even after all that trouble with Shadow, but even Shadow's expression softened just slightly at her act of bravery. In the meantime, Knuckles dashed over and scooped up Rouge unit his arms. She still had those two large gashes on her back but also sported some bruises on her face and arms. 

"Come on, bat," the echidna growled. "You better get up or we'll get killed by that robot before you croak!" 

Rouge opened her left eye slightly, her expression looked very cheeky. "Hey, I thought in the fine print its handsome guys who kiss the fainted girl. I want a refund!" She followed it with a tiny snicker. Knuckles dropped her out of her arms and got up. 

"False alarm guy so. She's alive, that's for sure..." he grumbled. The bat got up onto her feet, stretching her arms and then wrapping the massive wounds with a scarf she held wth her on the journey. 

She looked to the ceiling, the white hedgehog was struggling to constrain the robot in his telekinesis. "Silver is still up there by himself. I'm going up there." Before Rouge could take off, Knuckles held her down and forcibly planting her in the ground. 

"You stay right here, bat," the echidna urged. "Or else you'll risk opening up those sounds again." 

The bat crossed her arms and remained sitting, pouting. "Ugh. Fine." Knuckles--with a cheeky grin--patted her head and glided back over into the fight. The dragon lady, Sonic, and Shadow all ganged up on the beast to slow its movement and aid Silver. The white hedgehog, however, was knocked out of the sky and near Rouge. The bat saw the attack and crawls over, checking for wounds in Silver and scooping him up in her large wings to shield from debris. 

"Thanks for the save, Rouge." Silver chuckled; Rouge simply gave him a thumbs up in response. She tilted her head to see Sonic dashing over to check the damage. 

"You two okay?" The blue hedgehog panted, looking over both injured Mobians. 

"We're fine Sonic.." The white hedgehog smirked, coughing. "Don't get so bent out of shape. I'm just tired, and Rouge is fine." 

The blue blur huffed. "Hey I should be justified to worrying about you mostly. This is, what? The third time today you got hurt?" 

While they were bickering away about nonsensical stuff, Shadow readied his hand with chaos energy. 

"CHAOS SPEAR!" A handful of small illuminating spears appeared in his hand and immediately he flung all of them at the monster. It kept continuing to smack all its limbs, the room was slowly crumbling from the hits and more water was spilling in by the minute. Eggman paid no mind to the risky damage and only watched in in delight of his enemies being hurt in action.

After making a deep dent on Drag-Droid's upper thigh, he saw more water spew in and well up to his ankles. He growled and faced the mad Doctor. 

"EGGMAN! Turn off your insufferable machine at once! It's causing damage to the temple!" 

"Not until you're all defeated!" The doctor replied back in rage. "I'd rather drown than suffer another loss to you rabid beasts!" 

"Ugh! You dense, greedy BASTARD! You're gonna kill us all the more you refuse to turn off that-" Before he could finish his harsh berate, the sound of cracking of stone and a gurgling of water. 

The dragon lady uttered a whispery "oh no..." And like it was audio activated, the cracked walls burst open and in poured hundred and hundreds of gallons of dark and cold salt water. No one had time to react; one-by-one they were all devoured into the maw of the ocean. Even the mighty Drag-Droid that stood high above the waves was easily swept away and consumed by the sea. Currently panicking under the relentless shock of waves, Sonic helplessly and frantically beat his arms and legs to try to reach the surface. 

He managed to gain enough strength to swim to the surface but this will be his only time doing so. He panted the moment he hut above water and instantly scanned the surroundings for his friends. 

"Hello?! Guys?! Anyone alive or struggling to live?!" His ears perked back when no answers came. 

Everyone as gone. Silver, Shadow, Rouge, Knuckles. They were nowhere to be found above or below the murky waters. Sonic's fear of water crept up once again as he swirled unit a fit of anxious swimming and stroking. God he hated this stuff. It kept the plenty alive but he hated it with every single cell in his body. He could no longer stay above; his body finally gave up and allowed him to sink into the water.

Sonic felt so stupid. He desperately wanted to break his phobia that dragged him down. Prying him away from many possible adventures. He couldn't help but feel so cowardly about his failures to put his personal traumas begun do, especially in a time where his friend could possibly be in danger of drowning themselves. They needed him and he needed them, but neither are available in these difficult moments, are they? 

The water felt like if was absorbing the blue blur the deeper he sunk into its murky abyss. Bubbly tears floated to the surface whole he closed his eyes, and at last he passed out expecting death. The moment he fell into an anxiety-endured unconsciousness two massive arms submerge themselves halfway into the water and grab ahold of his shoulders. 

The figure heaved hard and hauled the poor Mobian out of the unforgiving ocean and into the safe security of a tiny wooden boat full of his other friends, all also unconscious from the temperature change. This wouldn't be the last time they would be in danger but do now, they were all safe on dry land, not knees get of the perilous trials and arousing adventure they had ahead of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AGH, YES! FINALLY! THIS LONG ASS CHAPTER IS DONE!! FUCK YOU CORONA! YOU SCHOOL! AND FUCK YOU SHORT ATTENTION SPAN!!
> 
> Whoa. Anyways, thank you all do much for waiting patiently for this new chapter to drop (or at lead I think you were.) this chapter is a doozy but will give way to the TRUE start of the adventure. Stay tuned for Chapter 5 which will be significantly shorter but still entertaining I hope.


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon awaking, Sonic and his crew find themselves stuck on an island inhabited by strange dragon-like Mobians. Meanwhile, Amy and Omega, as well as the other Freedom Fighters try to find the cause of the raid and other attacks. 
> 
> (Also where's Eggman??)

Amy and Omega continued treading their way through the desert and luckily, Westopolis was close by. So close, one can quite literally skip over and end up in Station Square. It was so close the two became excited. 

However, something washed over Amy like a tidal wave. 

She had this gut feeling of something was going to go wrong, something of dire importance or high danger that was yet to come. She was unsure whether it was a premonition or just a relapse of her disgust caused by that strange, empty village but the feelings lingered. 

The robot and hedgehog entered the massive bustling city. Mobians of all sizes, colors and species wandered around the street; some Overlanders were among them but were generally in the minority. They all had things to do and places to go, their jobs, their homes, their possible families, what ever the case. Despite finally being among people and not alone anymore in that sweltering desert, Amy still held on to that overwhelming gut feeling. She thought about Sonic and that chat she virtually had with Shadow over 9 hours ago. They were on some massive adventure in a temple she's never heard or seen of. 

She thought about that temple and fretted of why they haven't called back. Her staring off into the distance was interrupted by the big trigger-happy robot placing one of his large metallic hand on her shoulder. She looked up at his face, though emotionless she could tell he was confused and worried for her. 

"I'm fine Omega." She lied, forcing a smile. "Just...lost in the beauty of Station Square." 

"IT IS QUITE AMAZING," Omega agreed. "BUT MY MAIN CONCERN IS FOR YOUR MENTAL STATE. IT WAS THE TOWN THAT FIRED YOU UP, WAS IT NOT?" 

"Seriously Omega. Don't fret over me," the pink hedgehog insisted. She turned back. "Besides, we're here." 

In front of the duo, they finally stood yards from the doorway of the Chaotix Detective Agency, a building that stood out among the others in Station Square. The house had a nostalgic feeling to it, temporarily warding off both Amy's worries for her friends and Omega's concern for her. Besides, Omega had something else on his mind. 

"I DO HOPE VECTOR HAS SOME OIL. I AM BEYOND PARCHED."

💧💧💧💧

Cold. Darkness. Salt. 

Cold was all Sonic could feel, Darkness is all what he saw, and salt is all he could smell. The hedgehog--though still thoroughly knocked out--creaked his eye open slightly to look at his surroundings. To say it was so blurry would be the biggest understatement in history. His eyesight luckily cleared up but not too much to see perfectly clear images. What he did see was a large blurry blob holding what looked like a long stick-shaped blob and stroking it. Sonic and his group of also passed up buddies were all crowded on a small boat. 

For a second, the blue hedgehog could've sworn he saw a massive arch-like structure hanging over them while pin-sized figures could partially be seen flying over. Before he could attempt to say at least one word, Shadow's feet kicked him in the back of the head and back into unconsciousness. The dragon looked behind her, wondering what the whacking sound came from, saw nothing, and gone back to stroking the boat. She reached the shore of this strange foggy place only she could see. She originally believed to have been all alone in this empty beach, but actually someone was waiting for her. 

💧💧💧💧

Many more hours pass, and Tails refused to leave the warm comfiness of his swivel chair. He stared blankly at the computer he's been working on for days since Sonic's departure. Two person came rushing in behind him; those two people were Uncle Chuck and the princess Sally Acorn. 

"Tails," the older hedgehog huffed, getting the fox kit's attention. "Amy called!" 

"What's going on? Are they okay??" Tails fretted.

"They are completely fine, Tails," the Princess assured. "They made it!"

"Oh." The fox--his voice monotone--spoke back. "Thats good, I guess." He went back to prodding at the key board of his mighty computer. The two other Mobians in the room looked at each other, sharing the same worried glance. 

"Uh, you alright boy?" Uncle Chuck asked, his ears perked back. He placed one gloved hand on the kit's shoulder. 

"Oh! I'm alright Uncle Chuck!" Tails tried to reassure the older man, lying. "It's alright! I've just been working far too hard. That, and my mind is just abuzz with all sorts of thoughts. Nothing out of the ordinary." 

"Something is wrong with Sonic, is that what you're thinking?" Chuck replied. The fox's ears shot up and he swirled back around.

"Wh-...How did you know?" 

"I've been having the same old thoughts you've been havin', kid." The older hedgehog admitted. "It's that nagging feeling in the back of your mind, telling you a piece of nonsense here, a chunk of nonsense there, and funny enough it's all about my nephew! That kid needs to stop going head on into trouble."

"I...MAY or MAY NOT have the exact same thought process," Sally added, rubbing her hair. 

"But you never realty were in any of the battles we were in over the years, Sally," Tails wondered. "How could you possibly know what I'm thinking like Uncle Chuck does here?" 

"Cuz I used to date your brother, remember?" The Princess pointed out. Tails remembered almost instantly and replied with a big "ooooh". 

"It was like he transferred a sort of 'Sonic Sense' to me during our first kiss. Best kiss in the world, but felt weird about Sonic going into danger and nearly dying ever since. I still have the sense to this day, too."

"I guess...we ALL have a form of 'Sonic Sense'," Tails chuckled. "Especially with all the times Sonic had died the past 7-8 years." The two other Mobians along with Tails shared a good laugh.

"How come you and Sonic stopped dating?" Tails asked. The squirrel rubbed her ears and hair, it was appearing to be a bit of an iffy subject to speak of. 

"I...I guess he was just a little too fast to me." She admitted, her voice sounded disappointed. 

"Nonsense!" Uncle Chuck intervened. "You were simply just out of his league." The Princess proceeded to chuckle, the two other Mobians smiling. 

"You're only saying that to lighten the load," the princess giggled. The older hedgehog only shook his head in denial. 

"I think he was just too fast for YOU dear," Chuck added. "But in due time, he'll slow down and finally find the person he's lookin' for."

💧💧💧💧

Sonic and Co. were temporarily laid to sleep in separate beds inside a stranger's deep forest-dwelling hut. Unfortunately, there were only two beds versus five Mobians, so Sonic and Shadow were laid in one bed while the other was occupied by Rouge, Silver, and Knuckles. As the mammals slept away, two feathered dragons were having a very heated argument over by their bedsides.

"I cannot BELIEVE you had the audacity to leave for the temple in search for USELESS TRINKETS," the older dragon screamed out. "And to add, without my permission! Do you any common sense?!" 

"B-But Kami, it was for much more than that," the younger dragon--a female--argued back submissively. "Th-There was that man trying to destroy the temple and take the riches of our people! ANCIENT treasures we worked hard to earn over generations! I had to take some back!" 

"And risk your own life of some pretty gemstones?!" The older dragon hissed back. "...And whatever THESE CREATURES even are!"

"They saved my life!" The female heightened her voice, exclaiming. "Especially the black one-" 

"They are now my responsibility to care for because of a YOUR carelessness," the older male growled. 

"And what was I supposed to do with them?! Let them drown back the temple?! Be held responsible for indirectly killing innocent beings?! They are MOBIANS, just like you and I, Kami!" 

"I do not want to hear any more of your excuses and pleas for some strangers," the old dragon answered coldly; he sighed disappointedly, he faced a long row of potions and herbs from his garden outside.

"You have broken too many rules during your apprenticeship, and this time, you are on thin, THIN ice, girl. You're just lucky the Empress is so forgiving when it came to ALL your failures as my student." 

"Failures?" The lady dragon huffed, she felt steam enter her nose. "You call my acts of justice failures?! Why are acting like my ideas of protecting us from you-know-who are in the end just 'failures'?" She turned to see the Mobians. An idea lit up in her head. 

"Besides! We need all the help we can to combat Her! I have seen these animals fight with my own eyes. They are capable fighters, and maybe with enough persuasion they can help us with our incident." The older dragon slowly whipped his head around and laughed in a sarcastic manner.

"Like they are EVER gonna be willing to help dragons such as us," he scoffed. "Plus, how do we even know they're still alive?" He poked rather harshly at one them in the eye, a tiny moan is all that escaped. "If they croak by tomorrow, I suggest we get rid of them." 

"Get rid of them?!" The dragon lady exclaimed, she fiddled with a small piece of jewelry in her hands. 

"Why are you so shocked by this..?" The other dragon groaned. "They are merely unlucky travelers that were sadly consumed by the mighty sea. And the fact we ARE in a crisis of a food shortage." 

"Are-" the female gulped. "Are you suggesting we-"

"Eat them?" The male replied back. "What of it?" 

"They are MOBIANS, you fool," the female dared to say. "You expect me to eat them when they clearly are capable at succeeding in a fight?!"

"I would much prefer to eat the legs of that bat over there while she's still twitching than convince the queen to make room for yet another collection of furries," he admitted, staring coldly at the resting bodies. "Hmph. Gonna have to move them out pretty soon or else they'll stain my covers." 

"Instead of, y'know, allowing them to live and allow them to join us," the female began, tapping her foot patiently and her anger levels rising. "You'd rather have us resort to CANNIBALISM?!" Flames fired from her nostrils and smoke rose from her jaws. Then all of a sudden, from the drop of the word 'cannibalism', Silver shook himself awake and wide-eyed. 

"WHERE?!" His massive quills whipped around and smacked Knuckles right across the face, instantly waking him up. 

"Ah shit my face!" He cried out, his own hair and one of his large arms hit across Rouge's eyes, and she woke instantly as well. 

"Oi! Watch where you're flailing your hippie hair AND that language, Knux," the bat cried back. 

"Don't go pointing at me! Silver screamed to the heavens the moment he heard 'cannibalism'!" 

"It's a very sensitive word to me!" The white hedgehog argued. 

"Ugh, would all of you just keep your mouths SHUT?!" Shadow--who possibly was awake before Silver--called out angrily. 

The two dragons watched in bewilderment as 4 of the 5 mammals sprung awake at the ring of one singular word. The female was relieved while 'Kami' sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Nevermind then.." The male groaned. 

"Thank the gods you are alright," the lady exclaimed in a happy tone. "You have no idea how I long I wanted to say my than-" while the dragon rushed over to check on the Mobians (more so the one that saved her), she tripped over her massive tail once again and went falling face first into the rim of the bedside. She winced from the pain, followed by a small "not again.." and Sonic finally waking up out of his coma. 

"I dare you to tell me that again-wait what?" While the blue hedgehog woke up from a peculiar nightmare, he paused at the drop of a hat and peered around the room. 

"Well ain't this peachy?" Shadow reacted to Sonic to finally being awake among the others first but not before he saw the female dragon get up on her feet once more. She unfortunately slipped on her tail and her entire top half of her body slammed right unit the black hedgehog's lap. The two grunted and then met eyes. It hit both of them. 

The dragon lady recognized the stern facial features of the hedgehog while Shadow stared deeply into her deep ocean blue eyes. The hedgehog looked at her long drape black hair, tiny hooked horns, and long flowing blue dress. But those eyes still stood out among the rest.

He felt numb and blush could be seen forming rather lightly around his cheeks and muzzle. However it was short lived when a surge of anger and embarrassment rose from his mind and into his words.

"YOU." 

"Y-YOU!" The dragon responded in her own fit of anger, getting smacked to the side and falling down but getting up back on her feet. 

"You're the one who spit smoke in my face and TRIPPED me!!" The black hedgehog screamed at the lady dragon. 

"You threatened my life with your weird urine-colored weapons!!" She argued back. 

"How DARE you call my chaos spears such crude names!" Shadow took offense to that and shouted back. They kept on shouting back and forth while the others were trying to either avoid the situation or intervene in it. 

"WOULD YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP!?!" Sonic screeched almost simultaneously at the top of their lungs. All other Mobians ceased their speaking and turned to the yeller.

"I appreciate that you two lovebirds know each other, but here in the 12 realms of Mobius Hell are we?!" The female dragon got off of Shadow and finally could stand easily on her two feet without tripping. 

"Our apologies, young hedgehog," she spoke much quieter. "I-"

Kami laughed before she could even speak. "I like you kid. You're possibly the only sensible one around here. The rest of these LOONS for friends are just children."

"Excuse me?" Knuckles narrowed his eyes. 

"Can y'all just shut your mouths and let the poor lady speak?!" Rouge spoke up; the young female dragon felt a smile creep on her face.

Kami, now thoroughly put in his place, cleared his throat and tore his attention to his student. "Ahem, sorry, my apologies. Continue." 

"Before being RUDELY INTERRUPTED," the female said, scowling at her teacher. "You five have been misplaced and left here in the potion hut. This is where me and Kamicoco live and do training in the arts of alchemy."

"Wow, it's surprisingly 'homey' in here," Silver acknowledged; he stroked the pillows. "Nice duds." 

"Where are we? Like, yeah we're in this shack, but where in the ocean have wee ended up on??" 

"I should've known you furries didn't bring a map the moment you planned on going onto a boat," Kamicoco groaned. "Welcome to the Isle of Harmony, a land that is both infected with jungles and one of the coldest tropical islands you'll ever be beached on!" 

"The Isle...of Harmony...?" Shadow slowly pondered still taking in this new information. 

"Shoulda pack a map..." Knuckles admitted under his breath. 

"I've been all over the planet on many of my runs," Sonic acknowledged, baffled. "But I haven't dared go across water to look at islands."

"How could you possibly get across the wide planet in so little time?" The dragon lady asked. 

"It's a long story." Silver explained. 

"Too long." Shadow added, grumbling. Sonic felt his stomach growl from underneath the sheets. Some saliva welled up in the comers of his mouth as his brain switched from confusion mode to food time. 

"Huh. I'm starvin'." He said; he pat lightly at his empty belly. "Nothing but partially cooked fish and soggy hot dogs in my diet made me realize I miss home."

"Me too.." Rouge agreed, her stomach rumbled as well.

"I swear the moment you said you were hungry my stomach just started grumbling out in retaliation," Knuckles spoke while patting his stomach. Silver rose from the bed via telekinesis. The two dragons watched in amazement of this little mammal's movements without wings, but more pressing matters were at hand. 

"You, uh, nice folk have any place to get some grub?" Rouge asked, getting off the bed and into the air, stretching. 

The female dragon sparked another idea. "Now that you kind people are here, it gives me the perfect opportunity to actually give tours around here! You're in luck! There's plenty of places to eat on the island."

"Good things, too," Knuckles said, licking his lips. "I could really use a meal that has no scales included." 

"No." Kamicoco stared at the group and spoke in denial. 

The dragon lady's smile faded. "Excuse me?"

"You have done too much involving other Mobians," the older dragon replied. "With all the problems you've created involving you and these...creatures I am ordering you stay under hut arrest."

"That is so uncalled for!" The girl pouted, more steam came out from her nostrils. "You think you can keep me here to prevent me from doing the right things-"

"Your 'deeds' have caused nothing but chaos, ESPECIALLY the incident with Nytos and now with these mammals," the male, however, stood his ground against the brat. 

"Hey lay off, man," Sonic argued. "The kid did nothin' wrong!" 

"She DID help us out in a losing fight against Eggman," Rouge added confidently. "Give the poor girl some lady time and show us around." 

"NO. I refuse to-"

"I may have many...'mixed emotions' for this lady," Shadow narrowed his eyes at the young dragon. "However, I cannot help but feel partially grateful for her saving us from drowning." 

"I don't even know her at all but she is already good in my book," Silver also spoke with confidence in defense. "And....also what Shadow said, I suppose."

"But I-"

"Are you really THAT overprotective of your pride that you don't trust your only student to even show us around town??" Knuckles has ugly interrupted. "Just for a bite to eat?!" His good arm was armed and ready. 

Kamicoco could not believe the current situation. He was being cornered against his own totally grey-minded assumptions by a bunch of...FURRIES! Of all who could stand up to him, it was these strange Mobians and not his own species. But one thing's for sure, they did spit good points about his only student. She was only trying to recruit those outside the island to help with "Her", and it wasn't the girl's fault it would end up not working or not even going along at all. However his opinions of her clumsiness still stand in this fight. 

The older dragon cleared his throat and friend back to the echidna threatening to smash his face in with his fist. 

"I...may have been rather harsh towards my student," he surrendered. "You have managed to convince me otherwise..." He threw up his hands, only alerting the echidna more. 

"You are...allowing me to go??" The lady beamed. 

"Yes....I am." The male answered begrudgingly. "Just for today, but expect you to come back BY MIDNIGHT!" 

"You don't have to be a parent to tell me when I have to come back," she scoffed. However she bowed dramatically after speaking. "B-But considering y-you are my mentor, I will humbly accept your orders, Kamicoco." 

"Thanks," Kami answered. "But please. Don't bow like that again. I'm a low status teacher, not a nobleman."

"That's sweet and all but let's go!!" Rouge impatiently hollered, dragging Shadow and Knuckles alongside her struggling in her grasp. 

"Race ya there, Sonic!" Silver playfully challenged his friend. 

"Oh, you're challenging me??" The blue hedgehog scoffed; he smugly rubbed his nose and dashed off laughing into the distance. Silver cussed something out and zoomed after his friend in a friendly race to fill their stomachs. Before the lady dragon could leave, her mentor stopped her using his tail.

"Listen," Kami placed two hands on the dragon lady's shoulders. "I am very harsh at times-"

"At times?" The girl raised an eyebrow. 

"Ugh! Listen!" The older male exclaimed frustratingly. "I am harsh towards you because I don't want to see you get hurt or, dare I say among the gods, SLAUGHTERED in action! I am only doing this cuz I care about you, Mynnie. Just...promise to be back."

"...okay. But please please PLEASE tone it down a l-little," the girl urged. Her teacher sighed. 

"Sure, kid. Now go and get some food before I yell at you again." The younger dragon nodded shyly and went off to join the others. 

The other Mobians were happy to see their rescuer again and greeted her with friendly smiles. All except for Shadow, his head laid low and minding his own business rather than fretting the dragon. The dragon fiddled her hands when she's instantly remembered. She held a trinket of high importance to the hedgehog so she had to suck it up and confront. 

She cleared her throat and shakily tapped on the hedgehog's shoulder. "Umm...Hey sir." 

Shadow turned around, scowling and lifting one of his brows. 

The dragon gulped. "Y-you....You dropped this." She hastily cowered under feathered wings and held out the little artifact. 

Shadow's entire face softened when he found that it was his special little golden heart locket necklace. He swiftly grabbed ahold of it in his two paws, stroking the locket and observing it secretively. He held it close to his chest--obviously it was of deep importance--and finally wrapped around his neck and looked up to the dragon. 

"It got separated from you during the flooding," the girl answered as if she knew what the hedgehog would have said next. 

"I assume it belonged to you so I held onto it until you would wake up. It's very beautiful." Shadow stroked the pendent again, realizing his cheeks we growing in temperature. 

He looked in it her eyes; she stared back in a look of sincerity but also concerned confusion. Sweet chaos, what is up with that kid's eyes?? The hedgehog cleared his own throat, huffing quietly and turned away but continued looking on into those eyes. 

"I-...Th-Thank you, miss-" he paused. "Umm...I don't believe....we caught your name." 

"Oh!" The dragon--looking ashamed--exclaimed. "Myrian. My name is Myrian, sir."

"I don't do well with 'sir'. You can just call me Shadow." The hedgehog insisted. The two shook hands though Shadow wasn't as willing to do so. They walked side by side for a good duration of the walk in silence. 

"Sorry for yelling back there," Shadow surrendered. 

"I'm sorry for insulting your weapons," Myrian also apologized. "You are actually a very skilled fighter."

Shadow, surprised by Myrian's words, perked back his eyes and looked ahead, his cheeks growing slightly more red. He scoffed. 

"Thank you...I guess.." The hedgehog quietly responded, fiddling his necklace. Rouge overheard the two cuties talking away, so she glided back to speak with the dragon.

"You missed a HUGE opportunity to call his spears 'piss'xie sticks," the bat whispered, a giggle proceeding afterwards. 

"What's a...'piss'xie stick??" The young dragon tilted her head. Shadow heard the word spill out and swung his head around, growling. 

"Rouge." 

"W-Whatcha staring at me for?? I wasn't teaching the gal smack talk; YOU WERE!" Rouge ended up bursting into more maniacal laughter and bursting into the air. Silver and Sonic looked at the bat high in the air then to each other in puzzlement.

"You folks are....really something.." Myrian said scratching her hair. 

"The more you are surrounded by us, the more used to us you'll fell," Knuckles insisted. "You'll feel comfortable with us soon. Trust us." 

The dragon nodded hesitantly but ended up like this mixed group of vagabond mammals and the stuff they bicker about. However she was really attached to Shadow most of all, and though he was still kind of skeptical around her, he was more talkative and friendlier to her and the others for the duration of the walk.

The land outside of the hut's dwelling soot were mostly farmlands with very few to almost no other dragons; they did however see at least one older male dragon tending to his flock of Mobini sheep and waved to Myrian as she walked by with Sonic & Co. The sun felt crisp yet blistering on their backs, explaining why Sonic and Silver were sweating waterfalls during their friendly race. More farmhouses and rows of wheat fields are what stretched for miles, massive tropical trees surrounded these lands like a force field to ward off some unforeseen evil.

Which is not wrong to say it vaguely. 

More dragons were seen going on with their daily lives, however the moment they saw Sonic and his friends walking alongside of one of their own kind, the dragons' whole demeanors changed. They would look at one another, whispering indistinguishable words. But most would just fake a smile and wave just to be friendly. Most of the gang were not concerned about this, but Myrian and Knuckles were skeptical about it. 

A couple hours into the walk, the whole gang including Myrian had no trouble keeping each other entertained. The young dragon learned the others' names but mostly getting attached to Silver. She was fascinated by how he would flawlessly float around in the air using this 'telekinesis' he described. A few more hours later, Rouge and Shadow were having a secret chat while Silver talked and Sonic watching nearby.

"-And it was all just fire and brimstone...no one but me and the rest of the team," Silver explained his story to the others, more so Myrian. The dragon lady gasped quietly, Sonic gave her a slow shake, sharing her sadness. 

"Silver...That's...awful..." She whimpered, her ears perked back. Sonic laid a hand in his friend's shoulder, but Silver just simply scoffed. 

"It was ages ago, I was young," he forlornly said. "It PALES in comparison to other things that have happened in my future." 

"Don't you have an old friend you met out of sheer luck?" Myrian innocently asked. The white hedgehog nodded. 

"Sheer luck is an easier way to say it. Blaze was my BEST friend." Sonic's expression only saddened. 

"...'Was'?" 

"Hey sweetie! What's this up ahead?" Rouge interrupted perfectly.

The gang was stopped in front of a large, cylinder shaped tunnel constructed using old cobblestone and marble stone. Vines grew over the entrance and weird engravings were etched on the sides, rim, and on the insides. Myrian took one glance at the strange structure and instinctively knew what it was.

"Well, Mobians," she began. "We are now entering the main central city of the Dragon Kingdom." She entered first despite Sonic protesting about being the leader of the expedition. 

"S-Stay together folks...It will get darker the further we travel." The other Mobians nodded and entered behind. Not even ten steps into the tunneling entrance the place went completely pitch black dark, perhaps even darker than Shadow's fur. Only Silver's telekinetic aura was seen in the dark, and even THAT wasn't bright enough.

"How deep are we in here??" Rouge exclaimed. 

"Sweet chaos how do you dragons see ANYTHING in this damn metal toilet roll??" The red echidna grumbled. 

"Don't get angry over nothing, echidna," the black hedgehog Shadow spoke from inside the darkness....somewhere. "I have an idea." His hand brightened in a bright yellow aura, he was attempting to summon a spear. 

However he heard the sound of rushed footprints approached him before he heard an "oof" in the darkness. This was clearly Myrian judging by her little sound that came from her after tripping slightly. 

"P-Please don't use the spears for light..." Myrian quietly argued. "Y-You'll ruin decades of work. Allow me, if you will." The hedgehog huffed in response but allowed their guide to light their way. 

"So, what's your plan of lighting up this place?" Sonic asked. "Find a stick on the ground and rub it to create fire? Hidden unlit torches on the walls? If it's the second one, then you dragons should really fix the interior of this tunnel." 

The dragon--though it was pitch black--shook her head. "Not exactly." From out of nowhere, a small area lit up in a brilliant canvas of red, orange, and yellow from the mouth of the mighty yet skittish girl. Everyone in the tunnel almost immodestly spotted her and ran to her for light. 

Shadow was the first to see her, only seeing her eyes illuminated by the flames. Okay, what is up with me being the first to see her eyes in every situation?? The hedgehog frustratingly growled in his mind. But he felt that same numb feeling like the handuful of times before meeting Myrian; his pupils dilated in the light of the flames. 

"Wow." Sonic said awestruck. Though he was never really fond of fire, this time was vastly different. 

"Huh, never knew FEATHERED dragons could produce fire like a regular dragon," Knuckles marveled, staring deeper into the flame. 

"Despite only meeting a hours ago, I'm already impressed by your resourcefulness, Hun," the bat complimented. 

Silver was the only one who remained unnaturally silent; his expression appeared uneasy and sad in the light of the fire. 

"This shall be our light source for the entirety of our tri-" a strange feeling itched inside her nose, and in no hesitation, the young dragon sneezed loudly and blowing the fire in Shadow's face, going out completely. Everyone was silent, only Shadow's cough was heard. 

But from in the darkness, Sonic and Rouge both belted out in maniacal laughter. Knuckles couldn't help but chuckle along. Shadow and Myrian, however thought otherwise. The dragon had her head buried inside her hands and the edgy hedgehog coughed out some smoke steaming inside his mouth while growling. 

"H-Holy shit! That was...That was..-" Rouge could barely even get the words out. "I c-can't breathe!"

"D-Ditto!" Sonic agreed only making up him laugh more. Meanwhile, Myrian ignited another flame, but this time she did not have the urge to sneeze. Upon reigniting, her face contorted in embarrassment. 

"I am so so sorry, Shadow," she apologized while Sonic, Rouge, and Knuckles kept cackling in the back. 

"It's fine." Shadow mumbled. "I didn't want to breathe oxygen anyways." 

"I s-said I was sorry!" Myrian retorted smoke rising from her nostrils. 

"Shadow please don't argue with her again," Silver intervened quietly. "Let's keep moving..." The light grey hedgehog took off in front of the others almost hastily. Shadow, though very confused by Silver's impatience, followed still wiping ashes off his tongue. 

"He'll be fine," Rouge insisted, probably referring to either hedgehog that passed them. 

The rest of the gang traveled down into the tunnel. It was awkward that Myrian, their guide to the island, was cautiously following millimeters behind Shadow and Silver, but at least she still was a useful light-provider. The flame grew in her hands the longer they walked. The walls deeper inside the tunnel were covered ceiling to floor with strange symbols and hieroglyph-like illustrations. Shadow would periodically brush his hand against the drawings staring quizzed at them. 

The young dragon turned her head, seeing only her and Shadow in the warming glow of the flames. They met glances; his face was unreadable but showed some curiosity for the moment. 

"Who are you looking at?" Myrian steered the conversation. The black hedgehog traced his fingers across a drawing of a massive creature with a triangular head and gigantic wings. 

"I have seen illustrations this one," the hedgehog spoke, his voice was forced. "I don't really expect you to know who this-"

"That is the Sun Goddess, Akruaana," the dragon interrupted, Shadow gasping extremely faintly. Myrian pushed aside a thick strand of her draping black hair to see the picture more carefully. Shadow was unsure why the name of this hauntingly beautiful monstrosity sounded familiar. 

"Unlike many other Mobians on Mobius, we worship many gods and goddesses simply called 'The Titans'. This is one of them, Akruaana, as I said before. She is a prominent figure in our society's mythological and religious background." 

"I...remember this being," the hedgehog pondered. "I used to read hundreds of mythology books when I was a kid. And only a handful of times did the books ever mention the Titans. Just like Akruaana."

"Yep!" Myrian--now more comfortable--chirped. "She may be labeled in history as the 'Sun Goddess', but she controls many other domains like-"

"Dreams, Fire, and The Stars." Shadow and Myrian were quick to realize they spoke in perfect unison, covering their mouths and darting their eyes away from the drawing. 

The black hedgehog had ran off muttering some undistinguishable words. Myrian was redder than any ripe tomato in a garden, and a certain bat with her red echidna and blue hedgehog friend saw. 

"Ha. Cute." Rouge snickered flying overhead Myrian and kept in whispering embarrassing words the rest of the way. Sonic remained in the back whispering to Knuckles about stuff between Shadow and Myrian. 

"Those two have the worst luck, my god," the red echidna snorted. 

"Knuckles, my close rival-friend, I predict there will be more awkwardness as the days go by." Sonic dramatically replied. "Two souls bound together on a similar journey, about to fall head over heels for each other. Only to express said love via getting sneezed in the face." 

"Romantic." The two buds laughed away for a good few minutes; Sonic paused to look at the pictures for a shirt while still laughing at his terrible jokes. His laughs stopped, however, when he gazed upon an illustration depicting a familiar slender-bodied creature. And to think that made the blue blur uncomfortable, he read the words written below.

The same ones from the nightmare. 

Sonic's eyes widened as flashbacks leaked in, his heart raced and his breathing grew more rapidly. He didn't help himself by looking at more illustrations on the wall and only growing more anxious. Some were the same white creatures that plagued his other nightmares for months, others were simply more drawings of that 'Udat' figure. At the peak of his anxiety attack, a hand slid into his shoulder. 

"Sonic?" The voice was Silver, peering into his friend's eyes with a look of concerning sadness. The blue blur flinched slightly at the gesture but calmed down when he spot those familiar and beautiful golden eyes staring at him. 

"C-could we get going now..?" The blue hedgehog chuckled nervously. "Don't wanna lose sight of th-the others." The white hedgehog levitating in front of him nodded and nudged him to catch up with the others. 

Knuckles and Shadow asked him if he was okay, to which Sonic simply shrugged it off and continued in the lead with Myrian and Silver. Rouge followed right behind with the two close hedgehogs in front. They didn't realize the two hedgehogs were holding hands. 

Some more dragons entered the tunnel with their own flames while observing the majesty of the illustrations. However, one of them in the ground--a more muscular and lean male--stared at the group of six leaving the tunnel while he smiled grimly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa what's this? Another chapter??? This early??
> 
> I needed to slow down the story a tad bit after the doozy of a chapter from earlier last month. Thanks for all the support for my stories on AO3. I am so happy for all the kind words you've all given me. 
> 
> Have a good day and stay safe out there!!

**Author's Note:**

> EEEEEEEEEYYYY!  
> My first Sonic fic and first fic in general. I hope you all enjoy it. Just a little disclaimer: the story will start off very slow and kinda boring but will start to speed up more by chapter 3. Hope this prologue peaks your interest. Hope you fic readers have a very good day
> 
> ~Love,  
> Spinel :)


End file.
